Verklaring eurocommissaris Füle na bezoek Kosovo (en)

Remarks by Commissioner Štefan Füle following the meeting with Hashim Thaçi, Prime Minister of Kosovo, and Enver Hoxhaj, Foreign Minister of Kosovo

Mirëdita dhe urime! Është shumë mirë me u kthy përsëri në Prishtinë, pas gjithë këtyre lajmeve të mira për Kosovën. (Good afternoon and congratulations! It is great to be back in Pristina after all this good news for Kosovo.)

I am very happy to be back in Pristina. I was keen to come as soon as possible to mark the occasion of the upcoming negotiations of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Union and Kosovo.

You have made impressive progress in your relations with Serbia, and you have made substantial progress in meeting the priorities of our feasibility study. The start of negotiations for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union is your well-deserved reward.

All our Member States are united in commending you for your work and expressing their appreciation through this decision. Kosovo has worked hard to meet the EU's expectations. You delivered, and so did the EU.

With this decision, our work is not over. On the contrary - it has only just begun. We now have to actually start the negotiations properly. We are preparing the draft agreement, which we will start discussing with you after the summer break.

There will be some difficult issues to discuss and find an agreement on, but I have no doubt that together, with determination, we will make it work. I look forward to the autumn, and I am optimistic that we can make very good progress -and even finish - by next spring.

Let's get to work!