The European Commission stated that it expects to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with Kosovo later this year.

This was announced by Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn during his first visit to Kosovo on Wednesday.

The Commissioner pointed to 2014 as being an important year in EU-Kosovo relations, since it marked the initialling of the SAA.

Hahn expressed hope that the agreement will be signed by the spring and concluded by the autumn, so that it can enter into force in the beginning of 2016.

He added that 2014 had also been successful for Kosovo domestically, as the country held fair and transparent parliamentary elections and later the main parties managed to form of a government.

Hahn said that the recent resumption of dialogue with Serbia was equally important, as this will be of great importance for ensuring the European future of Kosovo.

According to him, Kosovo will need to continue efforts in establishing impartial judiciary and rule of law, reform of the public administration and strengthening socio-economic development.

The Commissioner highlighted the need for continued cooperation with the EU's rule of law mission EULEX.

In his words, Kosovo has to achieve significant progress in establishing effective and efficient judiciary and law enforcement agencies before the mandate of the mission expires.