The European Commission is set to present a new proposal for the Association of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo following recent meetings in Pristina and Belgrade, while Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti has remained firm that Kosovo’s territory must remain intact.
EU spokesperson Peter Stano said on Tuesday that the bloc has invited Kurti and Serbian President Aleksander Vucic to Brussels on Thursday following a visit to Pristina and Belgrade by bloc and member state representatives.
“Various proposals and ideas were discussed, some in writing, and these discussions will continue. This also includes a modern European proposal for the statute of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority”, said Stano.
Despite calls from some regional politicians and MEPs, Stano said Lajcak would not be replaced, and talks were focused on the “implementation of the Ohrid annexe”.
The Ohrid Agreement was agreed upon on 27 February in Ohrid, North Macedonia, via verbal agreement. While it does not explicitly require Serbia to recognise Kosovo’s independence, it does prevent it from opposing its accession to international organisations such as NATO, the EU, or the Council of Europe.
It also requires Belgrade to recognise Kosovo’s national symbols, passports, diplomas and car registration plates. In return, Kosovo must ensure an appropriate level of self-management for its ethnic Serb population.
An annexe that covers the agreement’s implementation was agreed on 18 March 2023.
Stano added that “quick steps are expected from the parties to prove that they are committed to continuing the normalisation process, fulfilling their respective obligations from the Agreement on the path to the normalisation of relations as well as all agreements from the past, without delays and prerequisites”.
The EU-facilitated dialogue process started in 2013, but little in the way of progress has been made so far, with most of the signed agreements unimplemented on both sides and violations largely unpunished or resolved.
“Leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have been invited to participate in the dialogue support meeting on the sidelines of the European Council meeting later this week,” said Stano.
Meanwhile, Kurti, who opposes the formation of the association, particularly after the recent terrorist attack carried out by Serb paramilitaries, spoke in Athens, stating it is necessary to unite against destabilising forces.
“We must unite as a force that opposes the destabilising elements that constitute a great threat to democracy”, declared Kurti.
He described the situation in the North of Kosovo, where he said that the northern region had been used as a centre for drug trafficking, arms smuggling and cryptocurrency mining.
“These activities directly contradict the rule of law and the democratic values that Kosovo represents. The relationship between Kosovo and Serbia can best be characterised as one country, Kosovo, working to build itself for the first time, striving for true democratic success, while an illiberal country tries to stifle this progress, using tactics often used by figures like Putin”, Kurti said.
Regarding the attack in the north of the country, Kurti said that the organisation of the plan was carried out by Belgrade to invade the territories of an independent state.
“On September 24, a month ago, the aggression we have seen culminated when armed paramilitary troops who had been trained at official military bases in Serbia entered my country and opened fire on police forces, killing one of our policemen. At the same time, Serbia engaged in what the US described as an ‘unprecedented’ military buildup along our border. In the days that followed, a significant amount of evidence pointed to the involvement and planning of a larger invasion by the state itself,” Kurti said.
Pristina believes the attack was an attempt, or part of an attempt to annexe the Serb majority north of the country and has urged caution over the controversial association.
The association was signed and agreed on in 2013 but was ruled unconstitutional in 2015 and has not been implemented so far. Belgrade said it is necessary for Serbs in the country to have more rights and a level of self governance, while Pristina, and the constitution argues that a monoethnic executive structure cannot exist in parallell with Kosovo’s government.
Minorities in Kosovo enjoy considerable rights under the constitution, including Serbian being an official language, guaranteed seats in parliament regardless of election results, representation at a municipal level, the right to nominate key police officials in Serb majority areas, Serbian language taught and studied in Serb-majority schools instead of Albanian, and at least one minister from the Serb minority in government.
Serbia denies any involvement in the attack or any plan to annexe any part of Kosovo.
(Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com)
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