Prishtina, 18 October 2022
The first Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Development and Dialogue of the Republic of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, attended the round table on the topic “European Agenda 2022”.
In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi has focused on the achievements recorded in the European Commission’s 2022 country report. He elaborated his analysis by laying out several alternatives in the way on how can be measured the country report. Initially, we can measure from the historical side, application and implementation of reforms of the European agenda, in which our aim is to improve the trend and to positively influence on a better report than the previous periods. Secondly, is the point of view in the region, where we must see if we are moving with faster or slower pace, and the goal for the country report was to conclude that Kosovo has faster pace than other countries which are more advanced in the processes of European integration. We have opportunity and willingness to make faster progress.
The third alternative is “vis a vis” the Government’s plan, for example how many steps the Government has taken towards implementation of reforms, and we notice this spirit occasionally in the way on how EU has evaluated the country report. The fourth option is real measurement in relation to the Government’s vision, to ascertain how much progress has been made compared to the Government’s expectations and objectives, thus, the distance between where we are and the vision we have for the future has been decreased.
It was pointed out that the report begins with an emphasis on political stability. It is doubly important comparison of operational plan, when the country is facing challenges such are pandemic, energy crisis and inflation. The report indicates that Government is prepared to better cope up with situations that have arisen as influence from abroad, such as the case of Russian aggression and the war in Ukraine. The report, also, shows that Government has had a good approach and has shown fiscal maturity in these periods in order to resist populist measures, in which, as an example report of European Commission highlights the case of the withdrawal of the Trust.
For the first time, the country report is conservative about political interventions, therefore there is no assessment where it is stated that there is intervention or willingness on political intervention in the public institutions. In 1 year, Government has provided solutions to the problems which have already existed for years and that were EU’s own requests.
The customs terminal, law on financing political parties, rationalization of agencies are only some of the many examples. In addition to the drafting of strategies, the work on economic criteria such are recovery, formalization of workplaces and deficit reduction have been evaluated. We have also mentioned much earlier the increase of 10.7%, publicly documented, as well job growth, part of publication of statistics, figures that exist and are accessible to the public. On the rule of law, Deputy Prime Minister stated that in Kosovo’s journey towards the European Union, the fight against corruption and organized crime should be key areas where we are being evaluated for European maturity.
The present round table was organized by “Epik” institute and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Present in the event were as well Ambassador of Germany Jörn Rohde, Ambassador of the Czech Republic Pavel Bilek, representatives of the EU Office in Kosovo, members of the Parliamentary Commission for European Integration, and participants from the civil society.
Last modified: October 19, 2022