Deputy Prime Minister Tahiri held bilateral meetings in Brussels

Prishtina, 4 July 2014

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Edita Tahiri, has participated in bilateral meetings with representatives of the European Union. During the visit, Tahiri has met with the Director for Western Europe and the Balkans in the EU Foreign Affairs Service, Mr. Fernando Gentilini, and Director for Enlargement of the European Commission for the region, Mr. Jean-Eric Paquet, as well as Mr. Alexis Hupin and Mr. Bernd Thran, mediators on specific fields of the Brussels’ dialogue.

On the agenda of these meetings, was the analysis of the implementation of the Brussels’ dialogue agreements. The achievements were praised and challenges that need to be addressed were identified, by asking for more commitment in the future.

In the meeting with Mr. Gentilini, Tahiri noted the successful conclusion of negotiations with the EU on the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and in this regard she stated that very soon Kosovo will sign this agreement with the EU. She also praised the progress made towards the long-awaited visa liberalization by the citizens of Kosovo.

Moreover, she emphasized the concrete achievements on the establishment of law and order in the northern municipalities and dismantling of illegal structures in relevant fields. However, she claimed that there are some more issues that need to be resolved such as dismantling of militia structure, the so called civil protection, conclusion of implementation plans in the field of justice, energy, telecommunication, improvement of the IBM in permanent buildings, etc. Tahiri especially raised the issue of new barricades on the Iber River Bridge and requested additional commitments by European Union for their removal, as it was promised.