Nov 16, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Kosovo is not the "alpha and omega" of Serbia's EU integration,
but it is one of the two most important pillars, said EU Ambassador to Serbia
Emanuele Giaufret.
Giaufret said that the first pillar of European integration is the rule of law, the fight against corruption and organized crime, as well as media pluralism.
The second pillar is inevitably the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, said Giaufret.
"Both one and the other are important. We have not left aside the rule of law, on the contrary, it is an important issue in our work, but so is the normalization of relations, because we want to find a way out of this situation to make people's lives easier. We are quite "pushed" towards normalization because it is an indication of how serious the EU is about enlargement and its desire to embrace Serbia in its family. And for that, we need the normalization process - so it is part of the package," Giaufret told Euronews.
"CSM is the key issue"
He points out that one of the key issues at the upcoming dialogue in
Brussels in two days will be the establishment of the Community of Serbian
Municipalities, which he calls Pristina's "obligation taken long
ago".
"We have to push forward the implementation of obligations that have not
been implemented so far, and the CSM is one of those issues. We have the
support of all EU member states and the U.S. government is fully supportive in
that process. We will continue to insist on the implementation of everything
agreed, including the CSM for which, I think, it's one of the key elements of
the process that needs to be addressed," he added.
Euronews,
b92,