France, Germany, and Italy called on the authorities of Serbia and Kosovo to fulfill their commitments made within the framework of the proposal for the normalization of relations proposed by the European Union.
The authorities of the three European countries issued a joint statement in which they claimed to take “good note” of the observations made from Belgrade and Pristina, which the previous day rejected the latest EU proposal.
However, they emphasized that the project to create the Association of Serbian-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo “represents an innovative European approach to the delicate issue of protecting minorities.”
“We emphasize once again that we expect the parties to fulfill their commitments to implement the agreement through normalization,” read the joint statement, in which they urged the parties to fulfill their obligations to ” the stage of implementation” of the agreement “progress.
“In order to quickly move forward with implementation, we call on Kosovo to initiate the procedure for the creation of the Association of Serbian Majority Municipalities in Northern Kosovo, as envisaged in the draft statute, and for Serbia to continue the de facto them “, added .
Therefore, the authorities of Italy, Germany and France indicated that “the formalities” of this agreement “will not hinder the development of this area”, and expressed their hope that Belgrade and Pristina “will quickly reach the an agreement on the details of the EU-facilitated dialogue framework”.
The president of Serbia, Alexander Vucic, and the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, held a meeting the other day with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel; or the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, in Brussels on the sidelines of the European Council summit.
In this meeting, which was also attended by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron; the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, marked an attempt to promote the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.
However, Borrell himself confirmed early Thursday that Belgrade and Pristina rejected the final proposal, thus knowing that the differences regarding the creation of the aforementioned Association of Serbian-majority municipalities in the north of Kosovo have not yet been overcome.
Borrell emphasized that the pact represents “a great leap forward in the normalization process,” and could serve to avoid “new spirals of violence” in the area. “We continue to insist and work to reach an agreement,” said the head of European diplomacy.
For his part, Kurti, who thanked European leaders for “their efforts”, emphasized that “the importance of the security of Kosovo is the first” and called for accountability from Serbia for the attack which was held in September in the town of Banjska, in the north. in the former Serbian region, leaving one policeman dead and another injured.
