EU Commission ready to give Kosovo an opinion on candidate country status

The European Commission is ready to prepare an opinion on Kosovo's application for EU membership as soon as the Council requests this document. This is the latest news among the few developments in the dialogue process in recent weeks.

Along with comments on the national elections, in the joint statement, the European Union's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, have sent a signal that we expect it from December 2022.

They say that the European Commission is ready to prepare an opinion on Kosovo's application for membership as soon as the EU Council requests this document.

One of the people who knows the inner workings of the EU best thinks that this message is an indication that the European Union has realized that the policy of neutrality is useless and harmful.

"So in a way we have "sold" the dialogue very cheaply. So only for candidate status without recognition of the five countries. So the recognition of the five countries is being noticed that it will be very delayed, so the EU has found the acceptance of Kosovo as a candidate country as an intermediate step to move forward", declared Dritëro Arifi - professor.

According to Arifi, this stance does not reflect any influence from Kallas or emissary Sorensen, but appears to be a tacit agreement from the 27 member states who expect Kosovo to move from its positions and be rewarded with support.

The condition, according to him but also according to the former deputy ambassador to Germany, is the implementation of the agreements reached so far.

In addition, former diplomat Blerim Canaj believes that mentioning the obligations for parties supporting the possibility of candidate country status is figuratively a stick or a carrot.

"One of the most important things is that the European Union does not want to import problems and conflicts, and until the dialogue is concluded, I do not believe that either Kosovo or Serbia will meet its main precondition," emphasized Blerim Canaj - former deputy ambassador of Kosovo to Germany.

Despite his natural optimism, Canaj does not believe that Kosovo will have the luck to gain the right to become a candidate country for a while and reach the end of the track, that is, to become part of the European family.