Serbia and Kosovo reach 'free movement agreement' to defuse tensions
Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian President, and Albin Kurti, Kosovar Prime Minister, during a press conference, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, August 17, 2022. © Montage RFI/REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Serbia and Kosovo on Saturday concluded "an agreement on freedom of movement" between the two countries, after renewed tensions sparked by new border and administrative rules imposed by Pristina, announced the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
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Following negotiations led by the EU, Pristina agrees not to introduce on September 1, as it was its intention, residence permits for people entering Kosovo with a Serbian identity card, indicated Josep Borrell on Twitter, claiming to
have “
received guarantees
” from Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
In exchange, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic agreed to remove the permit that Belgrade imposed on visitors with Kosovar ID cards to enter Serbia.
I am happy that we found a European solution that facilitates travel between #Kosovo and #Serbia, which is in the interest of all citizens of Kosovo and Serbia.
I thank @predsednikrs and @albinkurti for their leadership, and underline the excellent practical EU - US cooperation pic.twitter.com/kO4UZNenwk
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 27, 2022
In addition to this residence permit imposed at its borders, Pristina had also decided to require Kosovo Serbs to replace the Serbian license plates of their vehicles with Republic of Kosovo plates.
These measures led to a new episode of violence at the end of July in northern Kosovo, where the Serbian minority considers them vexatious.
Under pressure from the United States,
Pristina postponed their implementation until September 1
.
On the other hand, no compromise was found on Saturday concerning the Kosovo measure on license plates, regretted Josep Borrell.
Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo
“
The work is not finished, some issues are still pending.
I expect the two leaders to continue to show pragmatism and a constructive spirit in order to resolve the issue of the plates
,” he said.
Belgrade has never recognized the independence proclaimed by Kosovo
in 2008, a decade after a bloody war that left 13,000 dead, mostly Albanian Kosovars.
Since then, the region has been the scene of episodic frictions.
The approximately 120,000 Kosovo Serbs, a third of whom live in the north of the territory, do not recognize the authority of Pristina, remaining loyal to Belgrade.
In mid-August, before a meeting with the two Balkan leaders in Brussels, the head of European diplomacy had judged that "
it was time to progress towards a complete normalization of relations
" between the two countries, a key condition for their accession. to the EU.
Serbia and Kosovo both aspire to join the EU: Belgrade has had official candidate status since 2012, which has enabled it to engage in negotiations, while Kosovo is only a “potential candidate”.
However, five EU countries still refuse to recognize the independence of the former Serbian province.
(
With
AFP)
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