Lajcak in Kosovo: Serbia has withdrawn Bernabic's letter on the Ohrid Agreement

The envoy of the European Union for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak, said that Serbia has withdrawn the letter sent to the bloc last year, where it expressed reservations about the Agreement on the way to the normalization of relations.

The Prime Minister of Serbia at the time, Ana Bärnabić, last December sent a letter to the EU, through which Serbia expressed reservations about the Agreement on the road to the normalization of relations, reached in Brussels, and the Annex for implementation, reached in Ohrid.

In that letter, it was said, among other things, that the agreement is acceptable only in a context that does not refer to the de facto and de jure recognition of Kosovo.

After the meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi in Pristina, Lajçak said that the letter has been withdrawn and the agreement is still valid. He also said that from time to time there are statements that do not help in the implementation of the agreement.

"No, the Ohrid Agreement is legally binding and we are working on its implementation. Neither side has withdrawn from this agreement and we are discussing with Kosovo and Serbia how to speed up the implementation", said Lajçak.

The agreement of 11 articles, among other things, foresees a level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, while asking Pristina and Belgrade to also implement all previous agreements reached during the dialogue. .

Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, during a media conference, was asked about Lajçak's statement. She said that she was in a meeting with her Turkish counterpart, when Lajcak stated that Serbia has withdrawn Bernabic's letter and has no concrete information on the subject.

"I think that Mr. Lajçak is talking about a partial withdrawal of that letter of the former Prime Minister Bërnabiq, which, however, does not withdraw from the non-recognition of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kosovo, which is a completely unacceptable approach for us". she declared.

In the meeting in Pristina with Bislim, who is also the chief negotiator of Kosovo, Lajçak said that an agreement has been reached for a new round of dialogue at the level of chief negotiators, but did not indicate any date for holding this meeting.

Lajçak said that he discussed a number of issues with Bislim, including the opening of the bridge over the Ibër River for vehicle traffic.

"We also discussed the Mitrovica Bridge and its opening for vehicle traffic. I believe that the position of the EU is known, but I will repeat it: the bridge must be opened, but its opening must be done in close cooperation with Kosovo's international partners, and we discussed the details of this", said Lajçak.

Otherwise, this time, according to Radio Free Europe sources in Brussels, Lajcak will not visit Belgrade after Pristina. Last week, while participating in the security forum, Globsec, the European emissary met with the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in Prague.

The European Union has recently repeated calls to the Kosovo authorities to refrain from unilateral and uncoordinated steps, which, according to the EU, could increase tensions in the north inhabited by a Serbian majority.

The EU, but also the United States, France, Britain and Germany have criticized Kosovo for, as they said, unilateral and uncoordinated actions in the north inhabited by a Serbian majority. These criticisms were made after on August 30, Kosovo closed five institutions that operated according to the Serbian system.

According to state officials in Kosovo, those institutions have violated the constitutionality and laws of the Republic of Kosovo".

The institutions closed on August 30 were: the District of Mitrovica of Kosovo, the parallel Municipality of Mitrovica, the parallel Municipality of Zveçan, the parallel Municipality of Zubin Potok and the parallel Municipality of Leposaviq.

In Kosovo, there are municipalities, public companies and enterprises, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and public universities that are directly financed by the Government of Serbia, and which are located in the cities and towns where the Serbian community lives.

According to the laws in Kosovo, these institutions are illegal.

In 2013, Kosovo and Serbia, in the dialogue for the normalization of relations in Brussels, reached an agreement on the abolition of parallel institutions, but this agreement has not yet been fully implemented./REL/