French Ambassador: Kosovo's road to NATO, EU, through establishment of association

French Ambassador to Kosovo Olivier Guerot has declared that Kosovo's path towards NATO and the EU will be passed through the establishment of the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

He said that association is part of the agreements since 2013, and that this has been re-focused in the Ohrid Agreement as well. According to him, establishing the association would be a concrete sign of Kosovo's will to fulfil its international pledges.

When I say we're not going to come up with the wheel again, there's what's called a room cell, it's this association that's kind of left out. The way or way towards NATO and the EU will go through the establishment of this association. It would be confusing to assume that this fact could be overlooked. The association is part of the agreements since 2013 onward, and then is being re-focused even in the Ohrid Agreement or mentioned there. However, it must be established, yes, and it will be a very concrete sign of Kosovo's will to fulfil its commitments. The EU has made a kind of effort to draft a kind of statute that is in accordance with the Constitution, and if there is someone who can say it is in accordance with the Constitution or not, it is the Constitutional Court, so our suggestion has been that, if you test this constitution”, it has declared Gurot at RTK.

German Ambassador Jorn Rohde also stated that association has been a duty to Kosovo since 2013 and stressed that all prime ministers since have not done enough to resolve the issue.

“We have seen some attempts to bring proposals to the table, we already have a European proposal supported by 27 member states. The only challenge for us is to move on. Just send him to the Constitutional Court, and if he is at odds with the Constitution, it has nothing to do with Serbia, this is the Constitutional Court of Kosovo that will handle this. But that has inaction and inaction has consequences that are not positive at all”, Rohde stressed.

The ambassadors refused to comment on former US President Donald Trump's statement, who said that during his mandate he had prevented a conflict between Kosovo and Serbia.

“I've seen Trump's statement, I'm in no position to comment the statement”, Guerot said.

“I can't comment on cyclical”, Rohde stressed. “This has been said many times also by the new US administration, Europeans have to solve their own problems. This applies to issues such as the issue between Kosovo and Serbia”.

Ambassadors denied that the pressure for this process is only on Kosovo.

“No, it's not over Kosovo, it's also on Kosovo”, Guerot said./Periscopi/