Kosovo President to German, French envoys: First visas then dialogue with Serbia

Gazeta Express

10/03/2020 12:04

Kosovo president Hashim Thaci addressing media after hosting Tuesday special envoys of France and Germany said Kosovo will commit to dialogue with Serbia only after its citizens get visa liberalisation with the EU’s Schengen area.  

“I just hosted a meeting with the envoys of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. We discussed recent developments in Kosovo, Western Balkans, as well as perspective of the region,” Thaci told media after the meeting.

“I want to emphasise that unfortunately we heard nothing today on visa liberalisation had I not raised this issue, it would not have been discussed at all and this is very concerning considering that the EU was ready to liberalise visas for some years now,” Thaci said adding that this is unjust decision towards Kosovo after the country has met all the required criteria on waving visas.  

“We have fulfilled the demarcation condition, by ratifying the deal with Montenegro in Parliament, and again we see the hesitation, by not putting the visas issue in the agenda, I think this should be a wake-up call, we have no other future, but the EU should be clear and honest why they keep delaying this decision on visas,” Thaci said.

Thaci said that he told French and German officials that the EU should liberalise visas first and commit to dialogue afterwards. “My position was clear, the EU should initially take a decision on visas, and then consider whether they have capacities to push the dialogue forward, but as far as I can see the EU is utterly unprepared for the latter [dialogue],” Thaci said.

“I want to reiterate the EU should respect Kosovo as independent state and under no circumstances should align its opinions and position, with the five members which have not recognised Kosovo’s independence,” Thaci said. Kosovo president said that he has not discussed with French and German envoys on tariffs with Serbia and criticised the EU for its ambiguity towards Kosovo. “My message was that international coming in Kosovo should be clear, I saw no clarity on any of issues, I saw no clear standing,” Thaci said. /GazetaExpress/