The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, at the sixth meeting of the Ministerial Council for European Integration, spoke about the process of expansion of the European Union.
The head of the government added that they see the EU expansion plan as a step in the right direction, while repeating that the punitive measures against Kosovo should be removed.
“After a decade of stagnation, the expansion of the European Union is back on the agenda. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has brought back the importance of EU enlargement. In December 2023, the EU summit with the Western Balkans reaffirmed the future of our region in the EU. On December 15, 2022, in Prague, Czech Republic, which was holding the presidency of the EU at that time, we submitted an application for membership in the EU,” Kurti said.
He stated that EU membership should be based on meritocracy.
“As the most advanced democracy in the region, we are ready to answer thousands of technical questions coming from the European Commission. Kosovo is ready not only for candidate status but also to open negotiations and chapters towards membership”, said the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Kurti emphasized that EU membership is a strategic choice.
“We have made elections, so the agenda of European reforms in our government has been treated very seriously since the beginning of the mandate. Many reforms, laws and strategies have been closed. We implemented more than 70% of the reforms we planned together with the European Commission, or 245 out of 341 planned reforms,” said Kurti.
He added that last week the EU has approved the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans which has two goals to speed up the socio-economic development of the region with the EU and thus speed up the EU membership process.
“We see the expansion plan as a step in the right direction. There should be no EU benefits or funding without embracing EU values. The measures against Kosovo conflict with the region’s efforts for accelerated integration in the EU, especially with the Growth Plan and its goal. These measures must be removed”, Kurti said.
