“Have a deal”: Serbia and Kosovo take big steps towards each other

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Serbia and Kosovo have come close to settling their relations. “We have a deal,” the top diplomat said late Saturday evening after twelve hours of marathon negotiations in Ohrid, North Macedonia, on the lake of the same name.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, brokered by Borrell, reached a comprehensive agreement on the implementation of an agreement designed to redefine relations between the two hostile Balkan countries.

At the same time, however, the two sides did not follow the “more ambitious ideas” of the EU mediators, Borrell told media in Ohrid. He did not comment on the substantive differences. Work will continue “until a comprehensive agreement is reached,” he added.

Now inhabited almost exclusively by Albanians, Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 1999 with NATO help and declared independence in 2008. Serbia still does not recognize this.

Under the new agreement, Belgrade will not recognize Kosovo under international law, but will recognize the state of its former province. In particular, it is supposed to recognize Kosovo’s passports, number plates and customs documents, which it has failed to do to this day. Kosovo, in turn, should institutionally guarantee the rights of the Serbian ethnic group in the country.

At a first meeting on 27 February, both sides orally approved the draft agreement presented by the EU on the basis of a Franco-German proposal. On Saturday, both sides reached a comprehensive agreement on the specific deadlines and dates in the attachment to implement the individual points of the agreement. (sda/dpa)