Kosovo's Ambassador to the European Union, Agron Bajrami, has welcomed the decision of the EU Committee of the Regions to harmonize the terminology used for Kosovo with that of the European Parliament, by removing the asterisk and footnote.
In a post on the social network "X", Bajrami described this as an important step in strengthening Kosovo's path towards European integration.
He also expressed special thanks to the rapporteur of the Enlargement Committee, Councillor Gillian Coughlan, and to all members of the Committee for this important decision.
"This decision strengthens Kosovo's European perspective and demonstrates the EU's support for our country," Ambassador Bajrami wrote.
What is a footnote?
On February 24, 2012, within the framework of the dialogue for the normalization of relations, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on regional representation, which later became known as the "footnote agreement".
Based on this agreement, a footnote would be added to Kosovo's name whenever the country was mentioned, to enable representation in various regional and international conferences and initiatives.
"This determination is without prejudice to status and in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the act of declaring Kosovo's independence," the agreement states.
For Bargues from CIBOD, the footnote agreement was a way to put aside the discussion regarding Kosovo's status as an independent state or not, to discuss other issues.
"Since the status of Kosovo is the most sensitive issue in this conflict between Belgrade and Pristina... if it is left aside as a footnote, then the UN can work on other things, on the state-building of Kosovo or the peace-building process between Kosovo and Serbia," he tells REL.
This practice, according to him, was also adopted by other institutions, as it enabled them to work in various fields with Kosovo, without taking sides in the disputes between Kosovo and Serbia.
Emini points out that reaching an agreement on the footnote, in addition to enabling Kosovo to cooperate with countries that do not recognize its independence, also enabled it to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union.
Kosovo signed the SAA with the EU, which is considered the first step towards EU membership, in 2015./Telegrafi.
