Ymeri: The new package of EU measures would be a problem for Kurti and for everyone in Kosovo

Political analyst Visar Ymeri told Kosovo Online that the new package of EU sanctions against Kosovo, if it happened, would mean a big problem in the political sense, but that the new measures would depend on how the parties would behave in the dialogue.

LDK Vice President Lutfi Haziri stated that the second package of restrictive measures of the European Union was ready and that the Government had been informed about it.

On the other hand, the Kosovo Government has not announced anything about it yet, and political analyst Visar Ymeri believes that it is impossible to predict in advance what it will be.

"I think that politically it will be a big problem, both for the Government and the Prime Minister, but also for all of us citizens of Kosovo. But I think that, when talking about a new package, you should also know what it can be, and what kind of sanctions it is. So far, the sanctions have mostly been political, but also to some extent financial, some of the projects have been stopped for the time being for Kosovo, but for this new package, we need to see what it means, whether there will be something about visa liberalization, whether it will be more financial sanctions, and after we find out what it can be, we can talk more freely about what it will mean for the citizens of Kosovo," Ymeri said.

New restrictive measures, according to Ymeri, will depend on the dialogue scheduled for September 14 and the behavior of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

"It depends on how the parties will behave in the dialogue. I think that the most serious threat, so to speak, regarding those sanctions came from French President Macron, who talked about both economic and visa sanctions, not only towards Kosovo, but also towards Serbia, and I think that the European Union will be more serious in this regard during this part of the year to succeed to some extent in starting the implementation of the agreement, and whichever party, Kosovo or Serbia, if it is seen that they are not playing a constructive side, there will be sanctions," Ymeri said.

When talking about sanctions, one should not single out sides, claims Ymeri, but to a large extent, everything will depend on what the next steps in the dialogue will be.

"This means, the biggest agreement should be when and how to implement the annex to the Ohrid Agreement, which will be the first step. Serbia says that the first step should be the Community, Kosovo says that the first step should be made by Serbia, in that Serbia, when it voted against Kosovo in the European Council, violated the agreement and now the EU and the USA, which guarantee this dialogue, should agree on what it means when a party violates the agreement because it will depend on how the parties will behave, and also the sanctions, if there are sanctions, I would like them not to be there," Ymeri said.

It is important, claims Ymeri, that the European Union be more neutral, and that when it talks about sanctions, in his opinion, it should have packages for both sides.

"If the EU constantly applies sanctions against Kosovo, or only against Serbia, I think that it will not be well understood by the citizens of any country, and with that, the process of dialogue would be seen through different eyes and that should not happen," Ymeri concluded.