Palokaj: There will be no quick lifting of sanctions against Kosovo by the EU

Koha's correspondent from Brussels, Augustin Palokaj stated that the European Union had a clear position that sanctions against Kosovo would not be lifted without the fulfillment of all demands, due to the lack of de-escalation steps in the north. As he indicates, this means that there will not be a quick lifting of sanctions against Pristina, as reported by Koha.

"I believe the European Union will maintain these measures because those who proposed them believe they yield results, and Kosovo authorities have begun taking steps to reduce tensions since the sanctions are in place. I don't believe they will be lifted soon. Local sources say the demands are clear and not measured in percentages. These are explicit demands, and once fully implemented, those measures, which aren't called sanctions but, in my opinion, are, will be lifted. Some of the problems with them are that deadlines have passed for certain funds, projects, or their initiation. I hope they will be lifted during the autumn," Palokaj said.

He evaluates these measures as "unbalanced" since they have been applied only to Kosovo, while Serbia has received only warnings.

"I don't expect sanctions to be lifted as quickly as Kosovo authorities had hoped," he said.

As he mentioned, the current suspension of visa liberalization for Kosovo in the EU is not being discussed as an option, but he added that "nothing is impossible."

Regarding a high-level meeting called for by the EU's high representative on September 14, he considered it a continuation of the dialogue process.

Palokaj stated that "Serbia is the one politicizing the issue of missing persons, with the silent agreement of the international community." When it comes to EU enlargement and Kosovo's membership, he said that he was not optimistic about that issue, given that Kosovo was not yet recognized, neither by Serbia nor by five other EU countries.

"At present, Kosovo is not recognized as a state. So many months have passed, and the EU membership request hasn't even been considered. If there weren't this political obstacle, they would have transferred the mandate to the European Commission to prepare an opinion on whether Kosovo meets candidate status. This process takes a minimum of one year, and it hasn't even begun yet. The signal is being sent that there is no progress toward recognition from countries that haven't recognized Kosovo. Consequently, Serbia is granted veto power to decide on behalf of the EU because they are waiting for progress in the dialogue to move toward recognition," Palokaj concluded.