Shasha: It is impossible for Kosovo to obtain the status of a candidate for EU membership without progress in the dialogue

The executive director of the "Epic" Institute, Demush Shasha, said that it was good news that the Presidency of Sweden had started consultations on Kosovo's request for EU membership, but that it should not be exaggerated, because it was a common procedure, and added that this request of Kosovo would be connected with progress in the dialogue with Serbia, Koha report.

"This development should not be exaggerated, because it is a common procedure in which the first technical diplomatic discussions aim to pave the way for eventual political decision-making," Shash said.

According to him, Kosovo meets all the criteria for EU membership, but it is impossible to imagine that Kosovo will receive candidate status without progress in the dialogue with Serbia.

"Kosovo definitely deserves the status of a candidate, but the question arises as to how realistic the chances are for that. Kosovo basically meets all the criteria, but we must understand that this opening towards the EU will be closely related to progress within the dialogue for the normalization of relations with Serbia. It is impossible to imagine that Kosovo will receive the status of a candidate country without progress in the dialogue with Serbia," Saša said.

As he stated, this connection was also seen in other processes.

"We learned that not only from the Kosovo integration process, such as the Stabilization and Association Agreement, but also from processes that are not necessarily related to the European integration process, such as the Visa Liberalization Agreement," Shasha said.