The British Ambassador to Kosovo, Jonathan Hargreaves, and the German Ambassador to Kosovo, Rainer Rudolph, in an exclusive interview for KosovaPress, spoke about the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities and self-governance for Serb-majority municipalities.
The British ambassador said that Kosovo has taken on commitments, especially in Brussels and Ohrid, related to a meaningful form of self-governance for Serb-majority municipalities, and that it is important for Kosovo to fulfill these commitments and come forward with concrete proposals.
“As you know, Kosovo has made commitments, particularly in Brussels and Ohrid, related to a meaningful form of self-governance for Serb-majority municipalities. I am sure there are many ways to achieve this. What is important is that Kosovo fulfills these commitments and comes forward with concrete proposals. If it does not like the proposals so far, it can present others that meet the commitments it has already accepted. Therefore, I think there is an opportunity for Kosovo to move forward in this direction. And this is very important, because without it, the entire process will be difficult to continue. This is also an issue that can give confidence to Kosovo’s friends who support its progress. We are friends of Kosovo and want to help it move forward in these processes. Progress toward a form of association or self-governance would give us more confidence to strongly support this process,” Hargreaves told KosovaPress.Meanwhile, the German ambassador spoke about the risk of Kosovo losing EU funds if the Assembly is not functional.
“At the end of this month, Kosovo risks losing funds from the European Union because some agreed objectives and criteria cannot be fulfilled. They cannot be achieved without a functioning Assembly. If this happens, and we are talking about only two weeks from now, Kosovo could lose significant financial amounts. But this is also a signal about how cooperation is functioning. And this has nothing to do either with the EU membership application or with the dialogue with Belgrade. This is work that can be done here, in Kosovo,” Rudolph told KosovaPress.
