Hovenier: US demands towards Kosovo are not pressure

2023-08-16 14:45:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Hovenier: US demands towards Kosovo are not pressure

American Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier

The American ambassador in Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, in a meeting with journalists on Wednesday in Pristina, said that the demands that the United States of America has for the Government of Kosovo are not related to pressure at all.

He said that the country, however, will not be able to continue the integration processes without making progress in the dialogue with Serbia.

"Kosovo will not be able to become a member of the EU; Kosovo will not be able to move beyond the Partnership for Peace to become a member of NATO - the two main goals the US expects it to achieve - without making progress in the EU-facilitated dialogue." , Hovenier declared.

According to him, the demands from the United States and other partners are legitimate, considering the support that the USA has given to the state of Kosovo.

The ambassador said that one of the biggest strategic goals is "to see Kosovo take its place, supporting Kosovo to take its place in the European and Euro-Atlantic structures".

"As America's ambassador to Kosovo, I am very comfortable with what we are asking the Government of Kosovo to do, what we are asking the people of Kosovo to do. There should be no doubt and I hope it is very clear: the USA has a strong long-term commitment to the people of Kosovo", said Ambassador Hovenier.

"Therefore, we ask Kosovo to immediately implement the Ohrid agreement. To move quickly, deliberately, to advance the negotiations to create an Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority", he added.

Hovenier referred to the Agreement towards the normalization of relations that Kosovo and Serbia reached in February in Brussels and in March in Ohrid they agreed on the Annex for its implementation.

The agreement, of 11 articles, does not include the mutual recognition that Kosovo insists on, but requires Kosovo and Serbia to accept each other's documents and symbols, including: passports, diplomas and license plates.

The document requires the parties to implement all the agreements reached so far in the dialogue for the normalization of relations, including the one for the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, which the Government in Pristina has so far rejected. , on the grounds that it may endanger the functionality of the state.

Among the demands of the EU, but also of the USA, is that Kosovo hold new elections in the northern municipalities.

Hovenier said that the holding of elections in the four northern municipalities inhabited by a majority of Serbs is one of the points that has been identified by the EU as something that could escalate the situation in this part of the country, and that the US agrees with this request. REL