The European Parliament has urged the five EU member states that have not yet recognised Kosovo to do so in order to make “EU policies more effective for all the people in Kosovo”. In a resolution drafted by Ulrike Lunacek (Greens-EFA, Austria) and adopted on 8 July at the plenary session in Strasbourg, the MEPs said they “would welcome the recognition by all member states of the independence of Kosovo”. They also insisted that Kosovo, as other Western Balkan countries, should benefit from the prospect of eventual visa liberalisation.

To date, 69 countries, including 22 members of the European Union, have recognised Kosovo. Due to reservations signalled by the five member states that have not officially accepted Kosovo’s secession from Serbia (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Spain), the EU has adopted a ‘status-neutral’ approach towards Pristina, reassuring Kosovo at the same time that as the other Western Balkan countries, it also has an EU membership prospect. The split within the EU has, however, blocked the newly-born country from making progress in its EU integration process. Under the EU’s rules of procedure, any tangible step towards EU membership requires unanimity among all 27 member states.

MEPs stressed that launching a visa-free regime dialogue with Pristina would make the benefits of cooperating with the EU more tangible to Kosovo’s citizens. To this end, they called on the European Commission to communicate to Pristina all the steps that need to be taken before preparing the visa liberalisation road map and to define the road map “immediately” after these steps are taken. Alongside Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo is the only country in the Western Balkan region that does not yet enjoy a visa-free regime with the EU.

RELATIONS WITH SERBIA

A significant part of Lunacek’s resolution is devoted to Serbia’s attitude towards Kosovo. Acknowledging that “recognising Kosovo is not currently a feasible political option for the Serbian government,” the MEPs called on Belgrade to be “pragmatic on the status issue”. In this respect, the Parliament rebuffed Belgrade for supporting parallel structures in Serbian-dominated enclaves in Kosovo. It also called on Serbia to refrain from blocking Kosovo’s membership of international organisations. To date, Kosovo has been admitted inter alia to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

INTERNAL REFORMS

The MEPs strongly urged the government in Pristina to accelerate its reform efforts in the coming months. “2010 is a crucial year for both the Kosovo government and all levels of the administration” in order to make progress on key reforms, such as the fight against corruption and organised crime, decentralisation and public administration reform, said the resolution. In this respect, the MEPs stressed their “extreme concern over the widespread corruption, which remains one of the biggest problems in Kosovo together with organised crime”.