Serbia formally refuses to abide by EU-brokered agreements with Kosovo

Serbia has formally refused to comply with the various agreements made between Kosovo and Serbia, brokered by the EU to normalise relations, with Prime Minister Ana Brnabić sending a letter to this effect to the European External Action Service on Thursday.

The letter, rife with spelling mistakes, states that Serbia is committed to the EU integration process and negotiations and aligns with the declaration “EU-Western Balkans Summit, Brussels, 13-14 June 2007” as a political statement and a legally non-binding document.

“The agreement on the path to normalisation and its contribution to implementation,” as stated in the declaration, is deemed acceptable only in a context that does not involve any de facto or de jure recognition of Kosovo.

It then specifies that it will not recognise Kosovo’s membership of the UN any UN organisations and agencies, nor will it recognise the territorial integrity of Kosovo.

“The document does not constitute a legally binding treaty under international law. Furthermore, alignment with this Declaration does not affect the fact that Kosovo and Metohija remain an integral part of the territory of the Republic of Serbia under international administration by UN Security Council Resolution 1244 from 1999,” the document states.

The document, signed by Brnabic, calls into question the entire 13 years of EU diplomacy efforts to normalise relations between the two countries. Criticism has been rife from Kosovo and increasing from other European countries that the EU mediation has been ineffective and has veered too far towards appeasing Serbia.

A recent interview with President Aleksander Vucic went viral on social media as he mocked other Western Balkan countries for aligning with EU foreign policy, mocks the West for trying to prevent a “human catastrophe” in Kosovo during the reign of Milosevic, and openly stated he hopes setbacks in Ukraine will provide Serbia with a novel and favourable geopolitical environment.

“Now everyone understands they cannot defeat Russia militarily, and therefore, this will now change everything,” he said.

On Thursday, 13 chais of parliamentary committees, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Czechia, Croatia, Italy, Bulgaria, Denmark, Belgium, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, called on the EU to remove all negative measures against Kosovo and for the EU, US and UK to investigate the Banjska ‘terrorist’ attack and publish the results in full.

(Jelena Nikolić | Euractiv.rs, Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com)