DASH envoy for Western Balkans: US wants EU region – Outney.net

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Gabriel Escobar, the State Department’s envoy to the Western Balkans, said the United States continues to have the support of these countries for integration into the Union as a key policy towards the Western Balkans. European.

In the first statements since he was appointed to this position, Escobar said that the US administration’s approach to the region has not changed and that is the European integration of these countries.

“The new administration will focus a lot on the message that the region should be part of the EU, to make the necessary reforms for this. “We see tremendous economic opportunities in the region,” Escobar said in an online debate hosted by the Center for European Policy.

“We will support the EU dialogue efforts for Serbia and Kosovo to develop closer relations and then to join the EU together,” Escobar said.

“The goal is not only mutual recognition (Kosovo-Serbia) but also EU integration. “The region must be in complete peace and part of the EU.”

The US diplomat said that the State Department through the embassies in Kosovo and Serbia will work for both countries to implement the agreements reached in Brussels and to ensure that leaders direct energy into dialogue and not avoid it.

The Special Representative of the European Union in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak also spoke about the strengthening of cooperation between the EU and the US in relation to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

Senior EU and US officials highlight transatlantic co-operation in Kosovo-Serbia dialogue over the fact that between 2018-2020, while EU-mediated dialogue was suspended, the then US administration had begun a process parallel to the dialogue between the two countries which culminated in the reaching of the Agreement on the normalization of economic relations between Kosovo and Serbia on September 4, 2020.

The documents were signed by then-Kosovo Prime Minister Abdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in the presence of then-US President Donald Trump.

The EU was left out of this process.

Escobar said that the Washington Agreement continues to be valid and that through it, the US administration is trying to establish confidence-building measures in economic terms.

The dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels has started since 2011.

The two countries hold meetings at two levels, that of the negotiating groups led by Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petkovi,, and meetings at the level of the leaders of the countries, namely the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuiqi..

The talks are about the possibility of reaching a comprehensive agreement that would solve the open problems between the two countries.

The last meeting between Kurti and Vucic was held in July, but no progress was made.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Kurti had said after the meeting that he had proposed a declaration of peace between Kosovo and Serbia, but, according to him, it was rejected “still unread”.

“For me, this shows the unwillingness for an agreement, since it was rejected without being read at all,” said Kurti.

Vucic, on the other hand, stated that the Kosovar side always conditions “new political criteria”.

It was announced in September that the next meeting between Kurti and Vuiqi do would be held, but after the meeting at the level of chief negotiators on September 8, the head of the Kosovo delegation, Besnik Bislimi confirmed that during this month there will be no meeting between Kurti -Vuçiq.

Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi said that during the tripartite meeting (Kosovo-Serbia-EU), the only topic was the issue of missing persons. He said that for this issue, the parties have expressed readiness to have access to state archives.

Official Belgrade also insists that Pristina implement the Agreement on the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities. Meanwhile, official Pristina has stressed that a number of agreements reached within the dialogue are not being properly implemented by Belgrade. In this regard, Kosovo has specifically mentioned the agreement on border control, the recognition of diplomas, certificates of goods, freedom of movement and the agreement on the footnote.

The head of the Serbian delegation, Petar Petkovi tha, said after the recent talks that the Kosovo representative had “run away from the topic regarding the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, justice, energy and free movement, and that the European side has noticed this”.

The executive director of the CiviKos platform, Donika Emini, said during the online debate of the Center for European Policy that the agreement between the two countries should be such that it would be implemented, otherwise it could not be said that the dialogue is a “success story”. ”.

EU envoy Lajcak announced a visit to Pristina next week.

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