The report on the measures against Kosovo is expected next week
The high representative of the European Union for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, is expected next week to deliver the report on the steps that Kosovo has taken in fulfilling the obligations for the removal of EU measures against it.
Such a report from the head of EU diplomacy was requested by the member countries in order to assess whether the conditions are ripe for the measures to be lifted from Kosovo. These sources do not know what exactly the report will contain and whether Borrell will recommend lifting the measures.
The Government of Kosovo has insisted several times that it has fulfilled the requirements, and that the situation in the north of Kosovo has escalated, the Kosovo Serbs have had the opportunity to vote for the dismissal of the mayors of the municipalities and now, according to them, there is no reason to these measures are taken.
This report was planned to be submitted earlier, because the EU countries had requested that it be done “as soon as possible”, but it was postponed due to the actions of the Kosovo authorities to close the facilities of the Savings Bank post offices of Serbia in the northern part of Kosovo.
On May 20, the authorities in Kosovo carried out a police operation against Serbian financial institutions in the north of Kosovo, which resulted in the closure of six facilities of the Postal Savings Bank and the People’s Bank of Serbia in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, inhabited by Serbian majority.
During the action, which the Kosovo authorities described as a measure to establish “order and legality”, various pieces of evidence, including money, were confiscated.
Radio Free Europe has learned from diplomatic sources that due to the developments surrounding the closure of the facilities of the Savings Bank of the Post of Serbia, it has been requested that these actions be taken into account in Borrell’s report.
These actions of the Kosovo authorities were called “unilateral and uncoordinated with the potential to incite tensions”.
The measures were decided as a result of the uncoordinated and unilateral actions of Kosovo, which led to the escalation of the situation. The measures were set in order to motivate the Kosovo authorities to take steps for expansion. Of course, everything that has a negative impact on the ground, and on extension efforts, is being taken into account and is being included in the report”, said the EU spokesperson.
When the debate on the measures against Kosovo was held in the Committee for Politics and Security, where the diplomats of the member countries are, the majority proposed that those measures be removed completely, while some states that they be removed gradually. But now diplomats are waiting to see what will be included in Borrell’s report in order to then express their positions.
The measures against Kosovo were decided a year ago as a response to the escalation of the security situation in the north of Kosovo when Kosovo sent to the municipal buildings the Albanian mayors who came out of the elections that were boycotted by the Serbs.
Among the measures of the EU are the temporary suspension of the work of the bodies of the Stabilization-Association Agreement. Kosovo is also not invited to high-level events and bilateral visits have been suspended, except for those that focus on addressing the crisis in northern Kosovo within the EU-facilitated dialogue.
Other measures are the suspension of the programming of funds for Kosovo within the IPA 2024 (Pre-Accession Funds).
“The proposals submitted by Kosovo within the framework of the Investment Framework in the Western Balkans (WBIF) have not been presented for consideration by the board of this fund. New contracts where the Kosovo authorities are the beneficiaries are currently prohibited.
The ongoing projects of the EU are not affected, nor the financing of civil society in Kosovo or the cross-border programs”, explained this spokesperson./rel
