Bislimi: Even a partial agreement with Belgrade would help Kosovo to be recognized by the remaining EU states

The First Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Besnik Bislimi said that Kosovo will submit a request for the candidate status for the European Union membership in the coming days, adding that Kosovo was ready for a new path, Koha reports.

Bislimi believes that countries that have not recognized Kosovo's independence will not create problems for Kosovo on its way to the EU.

"Since membership is a long-term process, we believe that by then we will be ready to resolve all the disputes that prevented these countries from recognizing Kosovo, and then make this issue unnecessary," Bislimi said.

According to the words of the Deputy Prime Minister, the dialogue with Serbia is an important process, which is monitored by Brussels. Regarding the normalization of relations, Bislimi said that even a partial agreement with Belgrade would help pave Kosovo's way toward the EU.

Bislimi added that there was a way forward after Brussels recently presented an updated proposal.

"We hope to start this important and intensive process of indirect normalization very soon. We will call this the basic agreement - an agreement that can bring a solution to most disputes between Kosovo and Serbia, but does not necessarily mean complete normalization. The very idea of making this intermediate step may be enough to show the commitment of the parties to those skeptical countries – and to lead them on the way to recognition", Bislimi said.