The European Union says it hopes that Kosovo and Serbia will implement the agreements reached so far in the dialogue mediated by the bloc, insisting that they are binding and must be fully implemented by both parties.
The EU spokesperson, Peter Stano, said on Monday in Brussels that the start of the implementation of the license plates agreement this week between the two countries shows that “when there is will from both parties, progress is possible”.
Kosovo and Serbia also officially recognized each other’s license plates, not applying from January 1 the stickers regime covering state symbols on plates when vehicles moved in their respective territories.
“The work in the dialogue continues, and the focus is on implementing what was agreed upon in Brussels and then in Ohrid last year. We saw in the case of the recognition of license plates that progress is possible. The parties agreed to implement the decision on license plates,” Stano said.
He emphasized that the EU will work to assist the parties in implementing what they have committed to, reiterating that these commitments are mandatory for both parties.
The bloc of 27 countries has been mediating the dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia since 2011.
Last year, Kosovo and Serbia reached the Agreement on the road to the normalization of relations and its implementation annex. Despite international pressure for the parties to implement the agreement, the European bloc has stated that it is not being executed.
When asked about the means the EU has to persuade Serbia to implement the agreement, as it has expressed it will not implement certain parts of it, Stano said on Monday that Serbia has chosen integration into the EU as its orientation, and in case of failure to fulfill obligations, this process would be jeopardized.
“We know that there are other issues that Serbia needs to fulfill in the integration process, not just with Kosovo. But, one more will make the journey even more difficult,” he said.
The normalization agreement, among other things, provides for a level of self-governance for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols. It also requires Pristina and Belgrade to implement all previous agreements of the dialogue.
The United States has consistently stated that the dialogue for the normalization of relations must end with mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia.
The international community has continuously urged Kosovo to establish the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, which would give greater decision-making power to Serbs in Kosovo.
A draft statute for the Association was presented to Kosovo and Serbia in October by representatives of the EU, the United States, France, Germany, and Italy. However, recently, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that he and some of his ministers would write the draft statute for the Association.
Regarding the punitive measures the EU took against Kosovo last year, following increased tensions in the northern part of the country when Albanian leaders took office in their institutions in four Serb-majority municipalities after contested and boycotted local elections, Stano said they would be lifted “when it is assessed that the right steps have been taken to de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo”.
He emphasized that the bloc is monitoring the situation on the ground and working with partners to see if the necessary measures have been taken.
Last month, Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani said that some countries tend to misuse the measures the bloc imposed on her country earlier this year, to “condition it for entirely different issues”.
“As for the measures, they should have been lifted long ago, in fact, they should never have been imposed, despite the disagreements that have existed between the Government of Kosovo and EU partners regarding May 26,” Osmani said.
She insisted that Kosovo has fulfilled the conditions for the removal of measures, stating that “what Kosovo asked for in what they called de-escalation has happened”.
