The delay is that the West wants us to recognize Kosovo, but they don't want to straight out say that is what is blocking our admission. The negotiations are dead in the water as Serbia fulfilled all of it's promises from the Brussels Agreements and the Albanians from Kosovo didn't honor any of theirs, so basically the talks are dead until they honor their part.
As for the Prime minister, she mostly does what the President tells her. Why he picked her I couldn't tell you...Maybe because he wanted to score some brownie points in the EU, maybe because he trusts her, or maybe both. The reaction was not that bad, people poked fun but that's as far as it went as far as I can remember.