EU punitive measures and their impact on Kosovo

2024-01-28 19:53:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The punitive measures of the European Union imposed seven months ago due to the tensions in the north of Kosovo, according to those familiar with political and economic issues, have already caused a lot of damage to the economy and the image of the country.

The President of the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo, Lulzim Rafuna, told the Voice of America that close to 300 million euros is the value of the suspended projects that were supposed to be financed by the European Union.

"All these projects were planned to be implemented as capital projects that directly benefited the economic development but also the rise of social well-being for the citizens of Kosovo. The second is the impossibility of Kosovo or not allowing Kosovo to benefit from various funds of the European Union, such as the digitalization fund where all the countries of the region participated, while Kosovo was excluded due to the measures it has in force. said Mr. Rafuna.

Mr. Rafuna says that apart from the economic damages, the punitive measures have sent a bad message to foreign investors.

The director of the Group for Legal and Political Studies, Arbëresha Loxha Stublla, says that the further continuation of the measures will affect the perception of other countries about Kosovo.

"It can be considered that the non-constructive and disobedient party in this process is Kosovo, and not many normal countries are imposed measures by the EU, which puts us in a group with countries that have committed major violations or had access to non-European", said Mrs. Loxha Stublla.

The punitive measures followed the sending of northern mayors to their offices with police forces, amid protests by Serbian citizens' groups that boycotted last year's April elections.

The European Union has requested the reduction of tensions in the north of the country through a plan that foresees the suspension of police operations in the north, the relocation of mayors to alternative offices and the announcement of early elections with the unconditional participation of Kosovo Serbs, in order to measures are suspended.

Since that time, the government has said that it has reduced the number of police officers in the vicinity of municipal buildings, has drawn up a document that enables, through a petition, the dismissal of Albanian mayors elected in the north who are opposed by the Serbs.

The leaders of Kosovo are calling on the European Union to remove the punitive measures since it is said that the European requirements have been met, while they are demanding that the path of European integration is not conditional on the dialogue with Serbia.

"It is a firm position that the measures be removed as soon as possible, but the most important thing should be that the dialogue process should be separated from the integration process of Kosovo in the European Union so that we as a country can focus on advancing of the aspiration for integration", said the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi.

The Voice of America asked the spokesperson of the European Union Peter Stano for a comment on Pristina's demands, but until the preparation of this material he did not receive a response. In a statement earlier this month, Mr. Stano said that European officials are watching the situation very carefully.

"We are also working with partners to help them take the necessary steps to de-escalate the situation, to address the problems that contributed to the recent crisis and when enough positive steps have been taken, the EU will review the measures imposed against Kosovo and remove them", said spokesman Stano.

The director of the Group for Legal and Political Studies, Arbëresha Loxha Stublla, says that Kosovo has already proven that it is treating European demands seriously.

"For us, it is very important that the lifting of the measures takes place before the electoral process in the European Union begins, because otherwise we would risk that the measures remain in force until the process is finished, and it also shows a kind of improvement in the approach of the European Union if it takes positive steps in this direction and shows that it is treating the parties in a more equal or balanced approach", said Mrs. Loxha Stublla.

Mr. Rafuna also says that the authorities in Kosovo should work closely with the European authorities for the removal of punitive measures.

"Our demand has always been for the central institutions, in this case for the government of Kosovo, but also for the parliament as the supervisor of the government, to meet the conditions as soon as possible to remove these measures because Kosovo does not deserve to have them. These are measures that affect economic development and social well-being, and ultimately it is the citizens of Kosovo who notice the consequences of these measures," said Mr. Rafuna.

The punitive measures of the European Union envisage "the suspension of all working groups for the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the suspension of financing of European Union programs, the disapproval of projects from the Fund for Investments in the Western Balkans, as well as the suspension of meetings at political levels except those that are related to the dialogue for the normalization of relations with Serbia"./ VOA