“We reconfirmed the official position of Kosovo that our full commitment and capacities will be oriented towards the acceleration of the Kosovo’s integration in the EU structures. This is considered as one of the main points of the Government of Kosovo and other institutions of the country,” said the Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Hashim Thaçi, in today’s press conference following the 14th meeting of the Stabilization Association Tracking Mechanism held in Prishtina.
Prishtina, 29 May 2008
Following the 14th meeting of the Tracking Mechanism of the Stabilization and Association Process held today in Prishtina, the Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Hashim Thaçi and Mr. Pierre Mirel, EU Enlargement Director for the Western Balkans, held a joint press conference.
Initially, Prime Minister Thaçi said that this was a meeting of a special importance with high-ranking officials from the European Commission which is taking place at a time when a new reality has been created in Kosovo, the reality of the independent and sovereign Kosovo and the reality that we are fast approaching the entering into force of the Constitution of Kosovo.
“Today we reconfirmed as Kosovo the official position that our entire commitment and capacities will be oriented towards the acceleration of the Kosovo’s integration in the EU structures. This is considered as one of the main priorities of the Government of Kosovo and other institutions of the country,” said Prime Minister Thaçi, adding that the Government is committed to addressing the requests from the European Partnership.
Further on, the Prime Minister of the Government of Kosovo, Mr. Hashim Thaçi, stated that the integration of Kosovo into the EU is a process that will have a positive impact leading to the improving of the living conditions for all the people of Kosovo. In this period, we have drafted the legislation framework for the arrangement of the social fields, with a special focus on the ones linked to the respecting of human rights, said the head of the Government of Kosovo, Mr. Thaçi and added that we have confirmed our commitment for integration in the EU also today during the meeting when discussing the European Integration Plan 2008-2010, adopted by the Government and the finalizing of the action plan for European Partnership 2008.
We have discussed and reiterated that the comments and the recommendations of the European Commission on our strategic orientations are very welcome and we believe in the experience of the Commission in this process, underlined Mr. Thaçi.
Addressing the journalists about the agenda of the institutions of Kosovo, Prime Minister Thaçi stressed one more time that the European integration is our state agenda, including in this process, apart from the institutions, also the civil society, the media and all the people.
“Kosovo is de facto feeling as part of NATO and of the EU, and I want to point out that it is of utmost importance to have this meeting at a moment when the date of 11 July has just been confirmed as the day when the Donors’ Conference on Kosovo will take place,” said Prime Minister Thaçi among other things.
Mr. Pierre Mirel, too, highly assessed the importance of the 14th meeting of the Tracking Mechanism of the Stabilization and Association Process and emphasized that the meeting is even more important after the creation of a new reality and a new government.
“The process of integration in the EU is a comprehensive process and this was stressed by the Council of the European Union in December last year, when the heads of the member states and governments clearly reiterated that all the countries of the region have a future in the EU,” said Mr. Mirel. He said that the most important issues in this period were discussed today, linked to human rights, the rights of minorities, rule of law, good governance and that he got a good impression that progress has been made in preparing the measures to implement the legislation, especially the part deriving from the Plan by President Ahtisaari.