4 hours agoThe EU for gradual removal of measures towards Kosovo: Steps Depend on Repression in the North
Periskopi(10 months ago)
(10 months ago)The European Union's sources have confirmed how first steps in the gradual removal of measures towards Kosovo were technical assistance about Reform and Growth Tools and the resumption of subcommittee work under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. But removing other punitive measures is conditional on steps Kosovo should take for [...]
The European Union's sources have confirmed how first steps in the gradual removal of measures towards Kosovo were technical assistance about Reform and Growth Tools and the resumption of subcommittee work under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. But removing other punitive measures is conditional on steps Kosovo must take to defuse tensions in the country's north.
A European Commission spokesman has recalled that in December 2024, the EU Council had declared that the EU would gradually remove measures parallel to Kosovo's other steps to defuse tensions in the north.
“in this direction, the Commission has taken the first steps to remove several measures. More specifically, this concerns four technical assistance projects for future investments under the Tools for Reform and Growth and the resumption of subcommissions of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement,”, this EU spokesman says.
The next “steps will depend on progress on the ground in terms of our expectations and are conditioned with the sustainable extension in the north,” said further in this response, reports Time.net, broadcast Periscope.
The European Union has declined to provide more details about the removal of measures towards Kosovo, which were imposed more than two years ago.
The move, said to have been removed -- technical assistance within the Tools for Reform and Growth -- concerns projects that were submitted again and approved in late July by the Investment Framework Board in the Western Balkans. As for the resumption of the work of SAA subcommittees, on 10 July in Pristina the meetings of subcommittees for Trade, Industry, Customs and Taxation were held.
Some European diplomats say lifting these measures is still only symbolic and see no readiness on the part of the European Commission and some member states to soon remove other measures. For this, they expect to see concrete actions on the part of Kosovo authorities in the north. /Periscope
