PRISTINA: Europeans have been banned from a restaurant in Pristina in retaliation for the EU keeping its door shut to Kosovo passport holders.

The symbolic gesture is “a sign of revolt and despair” said Shpejtim Pefqeli, the owner of Mama’s Restaurant, which is just across the road from the European Rule of Law Mission in the Kosovo capital.

Pefqeli once served up Italian fare to lots of Europeans, but not anymore.

His ban came after last week’s EU-Western Balkans summit, where Kosovo had hoped to be accepted into a scheme that would allow its citizens to visa free travel in Europe’s Schengen Area.

But by the summit’s end, the measure was not adopted even as Pristina argued that it fulfilled all the conditions.

It was a devastating blow to many and came four years after the European Commission first said Kosovo was eligible for entry into the arrangement.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2022