Borrell: Start implementing the agreement based on our proposal

 

The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, said that the European bloc demands that Kosovo and Serbia "without delay" start implementing the Agreement towards the normalization of relations.

"What we want, what we demand, is the start of implementation based on our proposal, without further delay, and this includes the obligation for both parties to fully implement the agreements reached earlier in the dialogue," said Borrell.

He made these comments during a press conference after the informal meeting in New York with the foreign ministers of the European Union. In this meeting, he informed the ministers about the last round of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, which ended without any results.

"They expressed concern with the lack of implementation of commitments by the parties regarding the Agreement on the road to normalization. Normalization is a process, it's a path and it's an implementation," Borrell stressed.

For the Basic Agreement and the Annex for its implementation, Kosovo and Serbia agreed earlier this year. However, the European bloc has said that the agreement has not started to be implemented.

Borrell said this agreement is binding on the parties. The agreement, of 11 articles, does not include the mutual recognition that Kosovo insists on, but requires Kosovo and Serbia to accept each other's documents and symbols, including: passports, diplomas and license plates. The parties also promise to implement the agreements reached earlier in the dialogue process.

After the meeting on September 14, the EU said that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, was not ready to move forward, unlike the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, who "accepted their proposal" for the implementation of Basic agreement for the normalization of Kosovo-Serbia relations.

After the meeting on September 14, Borrell stated that Kurti had insisted that the de facto recognition of Kosovo by Serbia be formalized first.

Kurti in Brussels said that "Serbia's conditionality" for the formation of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority "has turned into the position of EU emissaries".

The Kosovar Prime Minister said that at the meeting he had presented his plan for the implementation of the agreement, but added that this proposal was rejected by the European bloc and Belgrade.

On September 18, Kurti said that the EU's special envoy, Miroslav Lajçak, during the meeting in Brussels "positioned himself" against Kosovo, accusing him of "distorting the process by not focusing on the full implementation and in detail, immediately and unconditionally of the Basic Agreement and its Annex"./ REL