The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, was received today in Brussels by Gert Jan Koopman, the Director General for Enlargement of the European Union. They discussed various aspects of Kosovo’s integration process into the EU, including the prospects for advancing its membership candidacy in the current European context.
According to a media statement, the meeting also addressed other related issues regarding the EU’s enlargement process in the Western Balkans, including the need to functionalize the Regional Common Market based on the principles of equal participation for all states in the region.
“Prime Minister Kurti stated that Kosovo is interested in the functionalization of the Regional Common Market, especially now as we mark the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Process. He added that this should be achieved by advancing the region’s alignment with European standards in both economic and democratic governance,” the statement noted.
Furthermore, Kurti expressed that the current obstacles to Kosovo’s progress are related to the security situation and the ongoing threat from Serbia, which he stated Kosovo seeks to address in cooperation with Western partners, particularly due to Serbia’s close ties with Russia.
The implementation of the Growth Plan was also discussed, an instrument created by the European Commission to accelerate and substantively advance the integration of the Western Balkans with the EU.
Speaking about the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process, which is a separate process but influences the EU’s enlargement, Kurti said that the Republic of Kosovo has always been a constructive party and has an interest in concluding this process. In this regard, the Prime Minister confirmed to Director Koopman Kosovo’s support for the Basic Agreement and the Implementation Plan reached last year.
With this, Kosovo reaffirms its commitment to normalizing relations with Serbia and pledges to engage constructively in the process to move it forward swiftly. In this context, Kosovo commits to fully implement all respective obligations arising from the Basic Agreement for the Normalization Path and its Implementation Annex, including all past agreements from the dialogue. The details of the implementation will be discussed in dialogue facilitated by the EU, the Prime Minister stated.
For his part, Director General Koopman emphasized that the commitment of European institutions in Brussels to integrate Kosovo and the entire Western Balkans region into the EU is strong and will continue to be so with the next composition of the European Commission. This has also been evidenced by the statements expressed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during yesterday’s lunch with the leaders of the Western Balkans.
