The European Union has reiterated today that no sanctions or restrictive measures have been imposed on Kosova, but measures that are used to show that the EU is serious about waiting for de-escalation. The EU has reiterated its call for Kosova and Serbia to urgently stop escalating the situation.

The spokesperson of the European Union, Peter Stano has said that we are still waiting for the Prime Minister of Kosova, Albin Kurti to implement the necessary steps for the de-escalation of the situation.

In a press conference at the EC Headquarters in Brussels, he emphasized that the measures are temporary, can be reduced and can be removed. According to him, they include postponement of official visits, postponements of commissions, or events that have been planned, as well as the financial cooperation with Kosova.

“As I tried to clarify yesterday, these are not sanctions or restrictive measures. When we use the word sanction or restrictive measures, it means measures which are based on the legal framework for sanctioning. This is not the case in Kosova, these are measures. These are the instruments that we are using to show that the European Union is serious about waiting for de-escalation and reacting if de-escalation does not happen and therefore, when it comes to relations with Kosova, yesterday I mentioned that the member states supported a series of measures regarding Kosova, as we still expect Prime Minister Kurti to implement the necessary steps to de-escalate the situation, and these measures are temporary, can be reduced, can be removed, they include postponing official visits, commissions, or events that have been planned or are being planned, as well as our financial cooperation with Kosovo”, he said.

Stano emphasized that the decision taken on measures towards Kosova was not easy.

He stated that the Kosovan counterparts are aware of the EU expectations.

He announced that the EU is doing its best for the normalization of Kosova-Serbia relations.

The EU spokesperson said that the general goal is the normalization of relations between the two countries, which would help Kosova and Serbia on the way to the EU.

“The European Union is an honest mediator that is doing its best with large amounts of energy and resources to facilitate normalization between Kosova and Serbia based on the demands of both sides, approved by the UN resolution. So we are doing our role as a facilitator… The overall goal is to achieve the normalization of relations between Kosova and Serbia. This is the overall goal for the benefit of the people in both Kosova and Serbia. This is also very important for the EU path of both Kosova and Serbia, so to get there, it is expected to give European behavior means, not escalation, but finding solutions, de-escalation, European behavior means consensus and finding compromises, not having constant situations when, due to unilateral steps, we have crisis after crisis, which the European Union tries to solve,” he said.

Regarding the Ohrid agreement, Stano has said that it has never been abandoned and that the role of the EU is to help achieve the general objective.

Stano was also asked about the kidnapping of three policemen in the north of Kosova by Serbia, in which case he said that they are following the incident closely.

Furthermore, the EU spokesperson has called on Kosova and Serbia to refrain from any action that could lead to a rise in tensions. He repeated the call for both countries to de-escalate the situation urgently.

“Well, this is something that we are certainly following closely and we are, as an urgent matter, in contact with both sides, as well as with KFOR, which is very important in this context to prove what exactly happened and how it happened. And in the meantime, we call on Kosova and Serbia to refrain from any action or reaction that could further contribute to raising tensions, which are already quite high, and with decisive steps,” he added.

/a.p./