The rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, Viola von Cramon, is optimistic about Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe. After voting in the Parliamentary Assembly, the German MEP says that she hopes to achieve the majority of votes in the Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, in the May meeting. However, she adds that some states are more critical, as they demand progress in establishing the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities.
The German MEP, in an interview for KosovaPress, demands from Kosovo and Serbia the unconditional implementation of the Brussels Basic Agreement and the Ohrid annex agreement. According to her, the Serbian List was wrong when it requested the boycott of the voting process of April 21 for the dismissal of the mayors of the four northern municipalities, while emphasizing the need to remove the punitive measures of the European Union against Kosovo, after the end of this process.
According to her, the dialogue with Serbia is crucial for Kosovo’s development and membership in the European Union. Von Cramon underlines the need for faster progress by the two sides to implement the agreed deals.
However, she criticizes Serbia for not making any move to implement the agreements, on the contrary, it is actively committed to violating its articles, while mentioning Serbia’s commitment against Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe.
Speaking about the reasons for the failure to implement the Brussels and Ohrid agreement, the rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament says that in the current political circumstances it has been difficult to achieve anything. As she says, it is not the fault of the EU mediator, Miroslav Lajcak, that he has not moved anything in terms of implementing the agreements, since the parties do not have the political will for such a thing.
Although Serbia is not implementing its part of the agreement, Von Cramon says that Kosovo could have been more pragmatic.
Regarding Lajcak’s replacement in the position of dialogue mediator, Von Cramon says that he is a person in preparation, and there should be a person who knows the region and who is not easily influenced by either side.
