Following Serbian President Aleksandar Vučis’ apparent backtracking on plans to sign a proposal to normalize relations between Serbia and Belgrade, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti spoke to Parliament on Thursday of his frustration despite the fact that the EU remains positive.
During his speech, he said that Vucic disagreed with the content of the proposal and pointed to the fact that Kosovo was ready to sign, while Serbia was not.
“The proposal is accepted only with the signature of both parties. The refusal to sign indicates that there is no agreement on the content,” Kurti said, referring to the high-level meeting between himself and Vucic in Brussels on February 27 where the European proposal was discussed.
Vucic said on February 28 that Serbia is ready to work on many things arising from the European proposal to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia. However, he added that he would not discuss “mutual recognition, recognition and membership of Kosovo in the United Nations.”
While European officials were confident that the deal would be signed at a meeting in North Macedonia on March 18 and that “no further discussions” are needed on the EU’s proposed text, Vucic disagrees.
“We are ready to negotiate the implementation plan, but I will not sign it,” Vucic told local media on Wednesday.
“This is what I told French President Macron and German Chancellor Scholz in Munich and all the big leaders … we cannot talk about mutual recognition and the entry of Kosovo into the UN,” he added.
“As long as I am President, I am not going to sign or accept either formal or informal recognition of Kosovo or Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations,” Vucic repeated to a local audience
Meanwhile, an EU representative told the media on Thursday that the two sides had agreed on the text.
“I have nothing to add except to repeat the text and the statement of the High Representative Josep Borel, which both leaders agreed with. We will not comment on every statement or interpretation of what they have agreed to. This is made very clear in the text,” the spokesman said.
He added that “it is not the matter of signing, but the discussions on the proposal, which both parties agreed to, that eliminated the need for additional negotiations on the European project, with the aim of normalizing relations between Kosovo and of Serbia”.
The Dutch MEP and rapporteur for the liberalization of the compulsory visa for citizens of Kosovo, Tice Roiten, commented negatively on Vucic’s refusal to sign.
“Vucic’s disgraceful refusal to sign the normalization agreement with the Republic of Kosovo, which he accepted on Monday, clearly indicates that Serbia is only playing for time. Again. Domestication must end. Carrots have failed. Bring the whips,” tweeted the MEP.
Source: euractiv
