Kurti: Kosovo has met the requirements for EU candidate status

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in an interview with French broadcaster FRANCE 24 that his country has met the requirements for candidate status in the European Union. Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, sees itself as part of the European family, but four years after applying for EU membership, it still does not have that status. The interview covered Kosovo’s path toward the EU and the European and regional developments affecting that process.

Kurti expressed regret that Kosovo remains the only country in Europe without candidate status. He said this is because the European Council has not asked the European Commission to issue an opinion on Kosovo. He said the country has done the work required on democratic indicators, the rule of law, the fight against corruption, transparency, press freedom, electoral democracy and liberal democracy.

The prime minister stressed that Kosovo is not seeking shortcuts, expedited procedures or other ways to bypass the process, but an assessment based on merit. He said he was ready to answer, with dedication and care, the thousands of questions in the questionnaire that has yet to be sent to Kosovo. Kurti hopes candidate status will be granted in the coming weeks or months, reiterating that Kosovo is the only country in continental Europe without it, Bota Sot reports.

Kurti attributed the failure to send the questionnaire, which would start the process, to “internal dynamics” within the Council of the EU. In this context, he referred to the five countries that do not recognize Kosovo’s independence: Spain, Cyprus, Romania, Greece and Slovakia. Asked whether their positions might change, he said Kosovo has steadily increased communication and cooperation with those countries and has asked them to join the 22 EU members that recognize it.

According to Kurti, progress has been gradual: Spain recognizes Kosovo’s passport, while Kosovo’s office in Athens has been granted a higher status. He described these developments as positive signs, although recognition from those countries is still lacking. The prime minister added that the EU has found a formula of “diversity in recognition, but unity in engagement,” through which Kosovo has secured the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and visa liberalization. For that reason, he said, the five countries that do not recognize Kosovo are not an obstacle to sending the membership questionnaire.

The interviewers also raised the European Commission’s concerns about some reforms in Kosovo, particularly judicial independence. Kurti said he accepts the EU’s criticism of the judiciary and prosecution service, and that reforms were launched precisely to address those concerns. He said Kosovo is close to establishing a bureau that will investigate and confiscate assets whose acquisition cannot be justified, citing the example of someone on an average salary who owns a large villa or several of them.

Kurti described judicial reform as a positive process. He said EU integration itself, including the opening and closing of chapters and clusters of chapters, would help Kosovo improve not only its judiciary but also its public administration.

On relations with Serbia, the prime minister suggested it is still too early to assess whether a new chapter can begin between Pristina and Belgrade after elections in Serbia in which former President Aleksandar Vuçiq lost his parliamentary majority. He said Kosovo seeks the full normalization of relations, with mutual recognition at its center, and that there can be no return to the 20th century.

Kurti stressed that Kosovo is an independent state and a democratic republic. He said the sooner Belgrade accepts this reality, the better it will be both for relations between the two countries and for Serbia’s path toward the European Union.