Kosovo’s Chief Negotiator with the European Union, Jeton Zulfaj, has met in Berlin with Günther Krichbaum, Germany’s Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office.
According to the official statement, the discussions focused on Kosovo obtaining EU candidate country status and opening accession negotiations.
Zulfaj stressed that Kosovo has made the greatest democratic and economic progress in the Western Balkans over the past decade. He said this progress should translate into concrete steps in the EU enlargement process through a fair and merit-based assessment.
However, Kosovo’s current position in the accession process does not reflect this progress. Nearly four years after submitting its membership application, Kosovo remains the only country in the Western Balkans without EU candidate status.
The EU’s failure to make a decision on candidate status contradicts the commitment made at the Thessaloniki Summit, as well as the EU’s repeated statements regarding Kosovo’s European membership perspective.
In this context, the Chief Negotiator emphasised the importance of Germany, as a key EU member state, playing an active role in ensuring that the European Union makes a decision on Kosovo’s candidate status.
He thanked Minister Krichbaum for the open discussion.
