Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić said on Friday that Brussels is increasing pressure on Serbia following the official request to incorporate the Ohrid Agreement, with which Belgrade disagreed, into the framework of negotiations for accession to the European Union.
“Now you are trying to impose an obligation on Serbia through the European Union and Chapter 35, which, if you want to become a member, requires the so-called full implementation of the Ohrid Agreement and the part of the agreement with which we did not agree,” Dačić said on TV Pink.
He said that Serbia has not signed the Ohrid Agreement.
“With the oral statement of the President of Serbia, he distanced himself from some formulations suggesting that this is a kind of recognition of Kosovo and that we agree that Kosovo should become a member of the United Nations and other international organizations,” Dačić said.
On February 3, the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) submitted a proposal to the EU Council to amend and supplement the framework of negotiations with Serbia for its accession to the bloc by including Chapter 35.
With this proposal, the obligations from the Agreement for the normalization of relations, as well as from its Implementation Annex, adopted last March in Ohrid, are formally part of the negotiation process between Belgrade and Brussels.
Last December, the Council of Ministers requested the Commission to include the obligations from the Agreement for the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo in the accession negotiations between Belgrade and Brussels.
Chapter 35 of the negotiation framework for Serbia’s accession to the EU, called “other issues”, includes the normalization of relations with Kosovo in Serbia’s case.
To monitor progress in normalizing relations, this chapter was one of the first to be opened – on December 14, 2015.
On February 27, 2023, Serbia and Kosovo reached an Agreement on the normalization of relations. A month later in Ohrid, North Macedonia, they also agreed on the Implementation Annex of the Agreement on the normalization of relations.
It was also agreed that these documents become an integral part of the accession process of Serbia and Kosovo to the European Union.
Since 2011, Serbia and Kosovo have engaged in a dialogue to normalize their relations, mediated by the EU.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Serbia refuses to accept.
