Bislimi: Kosovo will submit a request for the EU candidate country status in mid-December

Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Besnik Bislimi said that Pristina would submit a request for the candidate country status in the European Union in mid-December in coordination with the Czech presidency, Koha reports.

Speaking about visa liberalization, Bislimi said that this issue had never been related to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue and that delaying the decision for a week had been good for Kosovo because the skeptical countries could use the issue of license plates to hesitate when voting.

"The reason it was taken off the agenda last week is that some skeptical country could take advantage of the license plate situation. The decision of the Council of the European Union was for a good purpose, not for conditioning. Why the issue of liberalization is being addressed now and not sooner depends on the government's ability to fight crime and corruption. The application is for candidate country status, since December last year we have been saying that we will apply this year. It is wrong to say whether it is the right moment because the EU is not interested in that. We have a team of four experts who are staying in Brussels and talking to each member state. We are also in close cooperation with the Czech Presidency for that date. We have an appointment, but we are coordinating; it is expected in the middle of December. I know they will be hesitant, but that doesn't invalidate the application. The application will be in the EU drawer; there is no risk of negative effects, it can only be positive ones", Bislimi said.