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EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelji said today in Pristina that progress has been made in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, although those negotiations are not easy.
Source: Beta
Illustration: EPA / Kushtrim Ternava
After meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Avdulah Hoti at the joint press conference, Varhelji said that the negotiations are not easy, but the momentum that has been created needs to be further developed.
He assessed that the EU envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, and the US partners are interested in that process.
The European Union has called on Kosovo to accelerate reforms so that planned EU investments “can be carried out alongside those reform efforts.”
The European commissioner said that the economic investment plan could radically change the landscape of the region in four or five years.
“We expect this plan to boost the region’s economy by three to five percent, and this is a significant contribution to the economic recovery after the pandemic. It is crucial to have a common economic field in the Balkans, as these investments They will only benefit if there is regional cooperation, “he said.
Hoti said that if a final agreement is not reached, Kosovo and Serbia will remain “two neighboring countries that are not recognized.”
He assessed that progress has been made in the dialogue and that ways must be found to overcome difficult issues to reach a final agreement.
“We have made progress since July. It is important to say that there is full social consensus in Kosovo for the dialogue process and of course there are difficult issues for which we must find a way to overcome them to reach a final agreement,” said Hoti.
Prime Minister Hoti said that he had spoken with the European commissioner about the EU investment plan and economic recovery for a total amount of 28 billion euros, of which nine billion are non-reimbursable funds for the Western Balkans.
Varhelji is visiting the Western Balkan countries to present an economic investment plan and new annual reports on the progress of the European integration process. He comes to Belgrade from Pristina this afternoon.
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