AFET: Abolish Measures against Kosovo Which Prevent Dialogue with Serbia

Pristina (BETAPHOTO/Andrija Igić)

The European Union should abolish measures against Kosovo which contradict its commitment to European values and prevent the resumption of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, it was stated in the report that the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted on April 9.

EP Rapporteur for Kosovo Riho Terras has stated that a new chapter was needed in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and a new momentum in Kosovo’s European integration. Members of the European Parliament have pointed out that the dialogue had not yielded the expected results and urged Kosovo and Serbia to implement the Brussels and Ohrid agreements, which implied that Kosovo establishes the Community of Serb Municipalities and that Serbia ceases to oppose Kosovo’s membership in regional and international organizations.

“The two countries should also avoid unilateral actions which could undermine the dialogue process,” it was stated in the report about Kosovo’s advance toward EU membership for 2023 and 2024, as announced by the European Parliament. Members of AFET have declared their full support to Kosovo’s application for membership in the Council of Europe, its strategic intention to join NATO’s Partnership for Peace program and its attempts to join other international organizations.

The authors of the report called for the urgent removal of the EU’s measures against Kosovo, introduced in June 2023 due to tensions in northern Kosovo, claiming that they were no longer justified, since Kosovo had fulfilled the EU’s demands, and that they were in great contradiction with Kosovo’s commitment to European values. MEPs have assessed that Kosovo’s determination to join the Union was constant and that every effort to remove Kosovo from the “grey zone” was in the interest of both Kosovo and the EU.