Serbia and Kosovo agree to implement EU plan to normalize their relations. Belgrade does not recognize its neighbor as its own state.
Belgrade. The twelve-hour trading marathon on Macedonia’s Lake Ohrid left its mark on the pale faces of the participants. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell spoke of “very difficult negotiations” with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić late on Saturday night. Although former opponents of the war did not follow the EU’s “most ambitious ideas”, Kosovo and Serbia “agreed on an annex to implement the agreement to normalize their relations”.
He established Belgrade’s “red lines” and “didn’t sign anything”, assured Vučić. But he was pleased that “some sort of agreement” had been reached in a constructive atmosphere: “Nothing has been finalized today. It’s a process that will take a long time.” According to Kurti, Serbia “really recognized” Kosovo’s independence. But the “other side” again refused to sign the agreement, including the annex for its implementation, despite a fundamental agreement: “Now it is up to the EU to find a mechanism to make this agreement internationally binding.”
Indeed, after heavy pressure from Brussels, the reluctant neighbors at least agreed on a rough roadmap for implementing the EU’s plan to normalize their relations, which was approved at the end of February. Nothing is signed yet. But the EU appears to have learned from the mistakes of the past – and is determined to force former opponents of the war to wear a corset of mandatory rapprochement.