The Austrian MEP, Lukas Mandl, has welcomed Kosovo’s application for membership in the European Union.

“The youngest state in Europe, the Republic of Kosovo, is taking an important step at the right time,” Mandl wrote on Twitter, while the European People’s Party (EPP) gave his full statement.

“The year we are leaving behind will remain in history. The free world must move together like never before against all kinds of hateful ideologies and their formation in authoritarian systems. Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina were granted candidate status. In the process of European unification, the old accession procedure was more of a hindrance than a help. The EU and its parts must show their colors for freedom and peace, human dignity, democracy and the rule of law.”

Mandl says that the Republic of Kosovo clearly belongs to Europe, while its citizens live with EU values.

“Let’s work so that today’s EU institutions succeed and follow the visionary spirit and pave the way for the Republic of Kosovo to join the EU. I am confident that among the EU institutions, it will be the European Parliament that will lead the way of this process”, he said.

/k.s/