H.E. Mr. Lirim Greiçevci:

I thank the Chairman. I am delighted to hear the very generous support in the committee for Kosovo and its aspiration to join the European Union. I agree with Deputy Durkan that the European Union is key to stability in our region. The western Balkans is not an isolated region but is part of Europe and its place is in the European Union. Of course, the criteria must be met. As the European Commission has stated in its western Balkans enlargement strategy, this is very much an objective process in which countries will be assessed on their merits and on whether they have met the criteria. This is a painful process in many ways for our countries, but they are necessary reforms to bring our institutions in line with European standards. It is a little easier for Kosovo, however, because it is a young country, and when Kosovo became free in 1999, it was placed under UN administration for eight years. In 2008, we declared independence in parliament. Since the Kosovo parliament was established in 2001, we have benefited enormously from international expertise in drafting laws that were fully in line with European standards. Our legislation is in line with European legislation.

I accept Senator Craughwell's point that the EU is also a trading bloc. That might have been the starting point but underlying the trade is peace. Nations that trade with each other do not wish to make war on each other. When I said that the EU is the guarantor of stability, peace and security, I did not mean the guarantor of hard security. We have NATO in our region and NATO is the guarantor of hard security in Kosovo. The EU is there to cement. It is a glue that will keep everything together.

I can relate a personal story from 2011 when we started the dialogue to normalise relations with Serbia. When we declared independence in 2008, the Serbian Government adopted a decree banning all contacts between Kosovan officials and Serbian Government officials. It was in Brussels in 2011, and I was there as part of the team, and we shook hands for the first time with our Serbian colleagues after independence. We have been meeting regularly ever since in Brussels and elsewhere. The two presidents have met perhaps 15 times. The Prime Ministers are present in all the regional meetings.

If it was not for the EU leverage, I do not think we could have done it. US leadership has been key, of course, to ending the wars and bringing civility, but the EU carried the torch from there onwards. The EU leverage is still important and is still working in our region. It is key to bringing about full normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Both Serbia and Kosovo want to join the EU, and the EU western Balkans strategy explicitly demands that there must be legally binding agreement in the end so both countries can join the EU. They will not join at the same time. That depends on how fast the reforms are introduced and so forth. This is the path ahead, however, and without the EU we would not have been able to do it.

In terms of the conflict in the past and the ethnic groups mentioned by Senator Leyden, there was a terrible war in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999 in which close to 1 million Kosovans were deported from their homes to Albania, Macedonia and elsewhere. NATO intervened with an air campaign for 78 days. Most of the Kosovans were able to return home after NATO entered Kosovo, including Irish peacekeepers. I believe there are still Irish peacekeepers in Kosovo. I have seen their patrol cars many times. It is important to have them there. There was some ethnic division after the war but I am proud to say that today the Kosovo parliament is fully multi-ethnic. All ethnic groups are represented in the parliament and the government. There are Serb MPs in parliament and Serb Ministers in the government.

There are still some issues in the north of Kosovo where Serbia still holds considerable influence, and we suspect Russia is meddling in our affairs there as well in a negative sense. We have signed technical agreements, however, to integrate the northern part of Kosovo into the judiciary and the police.

In all of this the EU has played a key role. It is an interface between Kosovo and Serbia. We are not happy with the implementation process and we would like to see more EU involvement in ensuring that the agreements are implemented. All in all, we are happy that we are part of European integration process. As I said, we have an issue with five member states that do not recognise Kosovo, but so far they have all supported the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which is the first contractual relations between Kosovo and the EU. We hope to continue with the next logical step, which is to get candidate status and then open accession. By that time we are hopeful a legally binding agreement will have been reached with Serbia and that it will have recognised Kosovo, or that Kosovo would be able to join the United Nations as a member and then we would have global recognition. We are enormously grateful to the Irish Government and the Irish people for their support.

As a final thought, we as a country are trying to join as many international organisations as we can. We would very much count on Ireland's support in the Council of Europe and elsewhere when we are ready to apply in order that Kosovo can be a full member of the international community. I thank the members.