Doruntina Baliu is a journalist with RFE/RL's Balkan Service.
U.S. Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar has said that the Serbia-Kosovo normalization agreement will create "a peaceful, predictable, and friendly relationship" between the two countries and will open "the door for both of them to move faster into Euro-Atlantic structures."
Prime Minister Albin Kurti has remained defiant over a Western proposal for improving relations with Serbia even as he says it could cost Kosovo critical support.
Kosovo has officially applied for membership in the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organization, in an effort to seize on the recent exit of Russia.
