Kosovo-Latvia relations, EU measures towards Kosovo and the status of the candidate country – what was said at the conference between Osmani and Rinkevich

On Thursday, the President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, visited our country, and was received with state honors by the President of the Republic, Vjosa Osmani.

The two leaders confirmed the excellent relations between the two countries. The joint conference discussed mutual relations, security, EU measures towards Kosovo, the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, etc.

The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, stated that the country he leads is in favor of lifting the EU's restrictive measures against Kosovo.

Rinkevics also stressed that he supports the full normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade.

"We also discussed the lifting of EU measures against Kosovo, and my country's position is that the EU should lift those restrictive measures. The sooner this is done, the better. We also support the full normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade, the continuation of the dialogue because we believe that this is the best way to improve stability and security in the region in the longer term," said Rinkevics.

He further said that he cannot promise that EU candidate country status can be granted to Kosovo by the end of the year, stating that "I cannot speak on behalf of all member states."

The Latvian President further emphasized that they are interested in strengthening political and economic relations with Kosovo.

"Latvia fully supports Kosovo's integration into international organizations. You have our full support for membership in the Council of Europe. You also have full support from Latvia for the European integration process," Rinkevics said.

Rinkevics finally thanked Kosovo for its support for Ukraine, and publicly invited President Osmani to visit Latvia.

"You are welcome to visit Latvia," said the Latvian president.

Meanwhile, the head of state of Kosovo, at the joint conference, thanked Latvia for its support for Kosovo.

She said that Latvia is a strong partner of Kosovo and has supported membership in international organizations, thus contributing to the strengthening of the state of Kosovo, reports Telegrafi.

"Latvia understands Kosovo's position best as our two countries have a painful and very difficult past and border aggressive states," she said.

The head of state of Kosovo said that the citizens of Kosovo have the highest level of trust towards the EU.

"Therefore, it is also time to remove as a priority the unjust measures that the European Union still has in force against Kosovo and as soon as possible find a method, a way and a path forward for the status of candidate country for our Republic," she said, reports Telegrafi.

Osmani further said that like Latvia, Kosovo is committed to Euro-Atlantic values, good neighborliness, while preserving sovereignty and territorial integrity.

She thanked President Rinkevics for extending the mandate until December 2025 of the 140 Latvian soldiers in Kosovo who are part of KFOR.

Osmani said they also talked about expansion in the field of defense.

"As a result of new security challenges, we also discussed modalities for Kosovo to actively contribute to achieving common objectives in the field of security," she said, reports Telegrafi.

"While our country and region still face destabilizing actions by Serbia, it is important that the EU has a clear response to such actions that aim to return the region to the past," she said.

The head of state of Kosovo emphasized that Kosovo has done its best to contribute to regional stability, despite the fact that in the last two years there have been attacks from Serbia with the aim of annexing part of the territory according to the Russian model.

The President said that Kosovo has successfully coped with this thanks to Kosovo's professional forces and the support of allies.

According to her, the lack of responsibility is only encouraging Serbia to take further actions.

At this press conference, Osmani was also asked about the draft Association Agreement drafted by the European Union.

She stressed that the draft drafted by the European Union is not in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo.

She said that the draft has numerous problems which they also addressed to the new EU envoy for the dialogue, Peter Sorensen, at the meeting held earlier this week. /Telegraph/