On Friday, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti once again stated that he was prepared to sign the Agreement on the normalization of relations with Serbia and a draft provided by Western diplomats concerning the Association of Serb-majority municipalities in Brussels on Thursday. However, the Serbian side showed no interest.
Kurti emphasized that, “Signing would signify acceptance, which in turn would imply implementation. Nevertheless, the acceptance starts with the signing, which is considered a pledge for implementation. We conveyed this unequivocally, underscoring that the EU Summit in Brussels was the event and place where this should have occurred”.
He mentioned that Western envoys assured him on October 21 that the proposal for forming the Association of Serb-majority municipalities had been meticulously drafted, aligning with Kosovo’s Constitution.
“The draft for self-governance, presented by them, was drafted carefully, taking into account the Constitution and laws of Kosovo. It was structured in a way that it would undergo an immediate review by the Constitutional Court if signed. Consequently, the Constitutional Court would assess its constitutionality as a response,” Kurti elaborated in a press conference in Pristina.
When asked about the specifics of the plan unveiled by Western envoys on October 21, Kurti expressed his intention to respect the request not to make the document public.
Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on the Association in 2013, followed by the principles for its establishment in 2015.
However, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that the agreement did not fully align with the Constitution.
Serbia insists that Kosovo should implement the previously reached agreements, but Kosovo’s Government opposes the establishment of a mono-ethnic association.
Kurti urged the international community to hold Serbia accountable for what he referred to as an attack on Kosovo and its refusal to sign the agreements.
He noted that after a decade of insistence on the Association, Serbia recently refused to sign a draft for self-governance presented by the EU and the US. Given the current turbulent times, high-level meetings indicate the EU’s prioritization of the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
Kurti disclosed that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić expressed regret for agreeing to the normalization of relations in February of this year.
The two parties subsequently reached an agreement in March on an annex regarding the implementation of this agreement, though neither document was officially signed.
“In the past, the agreements reached with my predecessors were praised. However, they are now reluctant due to the content and interpretation of the text of these agreements,” declared Kurti.
Kurti and Vučić held separate meetings with the leaders of the European Union during an EU summit on October 26, but the meetings ended without results.
In the conclusions of the EU summit, the European bloc called on the two countries on Friday to implement the agreements reached so far.
Kosovo and Serbia are part of a dialogue mediated by the EU for the normalization of relations since 2011.
The parties have signed a series of agreements, but not all have been implemented.
