New Kosova Report

Republic of Kosovo is part the EU's integration policy

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

Several diplomats and analysts, backed by EU and Kosovo officials are clearly indicating that the path of the Republic of Kosovo's EU integration will be in the agenda this fall and the its Government should pave that road by fulfilling the European Union requirements.

During an interview for Kosovo's state TV station, RTK, Venera Knaus, a senior analyst with the European Stability Initiative (ESI), a non-profit think tank with offices in Prishtina, says that "there is a large consensus among many countries to include Kosovo in the visa liberalization process if

the the requirements are fulfilled by the Kosovo Government."

“The ministry is doing the right thing; it is trying to copy the process, trying to implement the reforms and many friends at the European Union are trying to help Kosovo by including it in the processes, in one way or another. At the moment it is not officially included,” added Knaus.

At the end of the interview Knaus recommended to Kosovo institutions to implement reforms. According to her, the European Union should not miss the opportunity to include Kosovo in the process at the earliest time possible in order to make Kosovo and Europe a safer place.

Meanwhile, Kosovo's Interior Minister stated that there is a willingness to assist the Republic of Kosovo in this process, adding that," most importantly all EU nations recognize Kosovo's passports."

The EU Enlargement Commissioner Oli Rehn,also pointed that the policy for the young Balkan nation's integration in the EU will in the fall during when European Commission reviews the Kosovo's feasibility mechanism which paves the path for EU integration.

Also, Sweden's Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, the country which takes over the EU presidency on July 1st, said Kosovo's integration into EU should not be a problem as long as economic development and other reforms are continuous focus by the Republic of Kosovo government."

Albert Rohan, the former UN's deputy envoy on Kosovo's status and co-architect of Kosovo's independence, recently said that all Balkan's countries including Kosovo and Bosnia, within 5 year period will become part of the visa liberalization.

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bluerose799 said:

	... http://www.politonline.ru/ventilyator/1275.html The Czar and two Servants.
	report abuse vote down vote up

July 11, 2009
Votes: +1

bluerose799 said:

...
The world is not just black and white. There are seven colors and thousands different tones.
Indeed, Russian foreign policy has taken on a more assertive and anti-Western tone in recent years. The reason stems from the realization that Russia is now stronger relative to Europe and the United States than at anytime in its history. Russia is swimming in cash; it holds the world’s third largest holdings of gold and convertible currencies. Ten years ago the vaults were empty. Now there’s been this metamorphosis from bankruptcy to robustness. But its booming economy roughly 7 percent annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the past few years has been primarily buoyed by soaring global oil prices.
Russia boasts the world’s largest known reserves of natural gas. Moscow has used its energy supplies to wrest higher gas prices and more favorable transit rights from many of its energy-dependent neighbors.
U.S.-Russia interests have also butted heads in the Balkans, most recently over the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo. Russia has traditionally sided with its ethnic allies, the Serbs. More importantly, it is wary of setting of precedent of allowing local referendums to decide a people’s political status, given its own troubles at taming pro-independence forces in Chechnya. Putin says Russia’s role is to “create the necessary conditions and act as the guarantors of certain agreements. But we should not impose these agreements. Kremlin will use its Security Council veto to block a pro-independence vote for Kosovo.
To make things more interesting France is whole-heartedly on Serbia’s side when it comes to EU accession, despite conflicting views on Kosovo.
Kosove cannot define the status of Serbia. Are Serbia, France and Russia the main factors to destabilize the Balkans, Europe and beyond …