Brussels, 11/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Kosovo's minister for European integration, Bekim Collaku, said on Tuesday 11 February that he hoped that the stabilisation and association agreement (SAA) between the EU and his country might be signed before the summer at the latest.
“We expect the European Commission to recommend the Council the approval for signing the SAA hopefully no longer than before the summer”, he told a conference at the European Policy Centre (EPC).
The commissioner for enlargement negotiations, Johannes Hahn, had said in December 2014 that he hoped to be able to present proposals in March with a view to signing the agreement. He hoped the adoption process might be finished by the end of 2015 (see EUROPE 11222). The document, for which the negotiations were concluded on 2 May (see EUROPE 11071), is currently being translated.
Collaku stated that the agreement would be signed, on the EU side, by the European Commission. This would be to avoid problems for the EU countries that do not recognise Kosovo's independence. “The five countries which do not recognise Kosovo's independence are not doing this because of us, but for completely domestic reasons. They are not blocking Kosovo in its EU integration process and I am confident that they will not do so in the future”, Collaku said. He reiterated that Kosovo's independence was “irreversible”. “We are independent and we will continue so”, he said.
On the issue of visa liberalisation, Collaku said he hoped for progress in the coming months. He stated that his country would not send a report to the Commission before having all the necessary criteria fulfilled, so as not to receive a report in return flagging up that certain points still needing to be addressed. “This should take a few months - probably not more than three months”, he said.
In Collaku's view, it is only once Serbia and Kosovo mutually recognise each other that the normalisation process will be over and that they can become members of the EU. “It's only at that time that we will be able to say that the two states are ready to join the EU”, he said. In Serbia's view, the recognition of Kosovo is not a condition for it joining the EU. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)