The MP from the ranks of the Vetëvendosje Movement, Gazmend Gjyshinca, has said that the possibility cannot be ruled out that the issue of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities is linked to Kosovo even with the removal of the punitive measures that the European Union has imposed on Kosovo. According to him, this has been proven by the connection of the Association with Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe.
“We said that there is no connection between the processes, but we saw that there is in the Council of Europe. It has been a well-maintained line of representatives of the European Union’s foreign policy that these things will not be mixed, but we saw what happened. My very personal reading is this. In this politically turbulent time, we can expect anything from the European Union. Let’s be clear. But what we need to know is that, at least until the moment we are talking, there is no such request from the EU, and as the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have stated, there is no such communication and we expect it to remain where it is, that is, in within the dialogue process, the Brussels agreement and the Ohrid draft”, declared Gjyshinca on KTV.
He said that from the beginning, these measures were unfair. Radio Free Europe has reported, citing sources, that in the European Union there is no full agreement on the lifting of the punitive measures imposed on Kosovo. But, as a compromise, it is expected that these measures will be partially and gradually removed. According to sources, the majority of EU states were in favor of the complete lifting of the measures, as recommended by the bloc’s high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, in the report he submitted to member states on June 18. regarding the steps that Kosovo has taken to reduce tensions in the north inhabited by a Serbian majority.
In his report, Borrell recommended that the measures be lifted from Kosovo, while Prishtina should use this opportunity to act in order to reduce tensions and to avoid uncoordinated actions. He made this finding after a detailed examination of the steps that Kosovo has taken in fulfilling the specific criteria that the EU set for Kosovo in June 2023. According to diplomatic sources, some EU countries have expressed that “the fulfillment of requests from Kosovo has not been complete” and currently these states do not agree that all measures should be removed from Kosovo.
