Joksimovic: Gradual lifting of sanctions against Pristina in question, many of the measures are not being respected

The Director of the Center for Foreign Policy and former Serbian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Aleksandra Joksimovic, stated that only after political instability ends and Kosovo’s institutions are formed can a decision on the gradual lifting of EU measures be expected, although, as she assesses, some of them are not being implemented in practice.

“As far as I know, there aren’t many such sanctions. Some of them are not being respected anyway, so we are talking about symbolic steps. In that context, it’s really hard to assess whether there’s room for a step-by-step approach, considering that the number of officially active sanctions is small, and some of them are not even applied in practice,” Joksimovic told Kosovo Online.

She sees the key problem in the institutional crisis and therefore does not consider it “realistic” for any issue to be opened before the new parliament is constituted and a government is formed.

“This uncertainty and political instability has been ongoing for some time now, and I believe all political actors, globally, will wait for the outcome and resolution of this political instability in Pristina before engaging in any serious discussions on any topic—especially in the context of Kosovo, and particularly the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue,” Joksimovic noted.