EU confirms Von der Leyen's visit to Kosovo on October 15

The European Commission confirmed on Friday that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit Kosovo on Wednesday, October 15, as part of a tour of all six countries in the Western Balkans region. European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho confirmed this at a press conference in Brussels. KOHA had announced this visit last week, citing its sources in Brussels.

The European Commission spokeswoman said that during her stay in Pristina, Von der Leyen will meet with President Vjosa Osmani and the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti.

Von der Leyen will begin her visit in Tirana on Monday, October 13, where she will meet with Albanian President Bajram Begaj and Prime Minister Edi Rama. She will also participate in the Western Balkans Investment Forum. She will then travel to Montenegro, and on the second day to Bosnia and Herzegovina. During her stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Von der Leyen will also visit the Srebrenica memorial center, where Serbian forces committed genocide in July 1995.

Before arriving in Kosovo on Wednesday, Von der Leyen will be in Belgrade to meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Maci. Von der Leyen will conclude her three-day visit to the Western Balkans region with a stop in Skopje, where she will meet with the state leaders of North Macedonia.

This will be her first visit to the region in her second term as head of the European Commission. She was in Kosovo a year ago, more precisely on October 24, at the end of her first term. But it was already known then that she would be heading the European Commission for another five-year term.

Her first visit to Kosovo a year ago was full of enthusiasm. At a press conference, she congratulated the government and Prime Minister Kurti for their excellent work on the reform agenda and promised that, by the end of that year, 2024, the Commission would make the first payment of over €60 million to Kosovo from the Western Balkans Growth Plan.

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But now, Von der Leyen will find Kosovo in a completely different situation, in a political impasse, which has also affected Kosovo's relations with the EU, especially the benefits from the growth package for the Western Balkans.

This has resulted in the payment of the first financing funds from the growth package not only not being made in 2024, but also not being made this year, and the question is when it will be made. Kosovo, in this way, is paying the price for the lack of a constituted Parliament and a government that could approve and ratify the agreement with the EU for payments from this plan. Kosovo, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, has remained the only one that has not received the first payments from this plan.