Dencic: Brussels expects Pristina to start processes both on the path toward the EU and in the dialogue

Nikola Dencic, editor of the foreign affairs section of Radio Belgrade’s First Program, assessed for Kosovo Online that Brussels cannot be satisfied with what has been happening in Kosovo over the past year and more, during which Albin Kurti did not act in accordance with what had been agreed, both in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and regarding Pristina’s direct contact with Brussels.

According to him, the first visit to Kosovo by EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, which according to unofficial announcements should take place during this week, will in itself send a message that the European Union can no longer wait for what was expected from Pristina, namely the formation of stable institutions and the continuation of some level of dialogue with Brussels and the member states of the European Union.

“At this moment, Pristina is not even a candidate for EU membership, although this is expected and promoted from certain sides. At this moment there are certainly no conditions for that, and it is certain that the commissioner’s visit will also be directed toward launching that process, so that in some future period Pristina might at least move closer to candidate status,” Dencic believes.

As he adds, it is difficult to predict how messages of that nature will be received by one or another political structure in Pristina that is preparing for new elections.

“Brussels certainly cannot be satisfied with what has been happening over the past year and more. It is also certain that the prime minister of the provisional institutions, Albin Kurti, now in a technical mandate, did not act in accordance with what had been agreed, both in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and regarding Pristina’s direct contact with Brussels, and that some form of criticism will probably be directed at him as well. On the other hand, we know that even before his government there was not much success in what the European Union expects,” our interlocutor points out.

What may perhaps be the biggest message of Marta Kos’s visit, if it takes place, he adds, is that there may not be any concrete messages at all.

“It has happened that European Union officials come, whether to Belgrade or Pristina, and apart from some very basic diplomatic messages, almost nothing else is heard. So when we see Marta Kos’s reaction, we will also know what the goal of the visit was. What we can assume is that Brussels expects Pristina to launch certain processes both on Pristina’s path toward the European Union, which of course has not even formally begun, and regarding the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue,” Dencic concluded.