The European Commission has reprimanded Kosovo and Serbia for not implementing the agreements reached in the dialogue mediated by the European Union in its progress reports for both countries, which are expected to be published on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Radio Free Europe has seen a draft of the 150-page report, which assesses whether or not Kosovo has met the criteria and the recommendations provided by the European Commission in its previous reports.<\/p>\n
Kosovo has made \u201climited progress\u201d in fulfilling the necessary standards to join the EU. This is the most frequent assessment in the report, which the Commission is expected to approve tomorrow after the College of Commissioners\u2019 meeting.<\/p>\n
However, in this year\u2019s reports, as in the one for Kosovo, and also for Serbia, extra attention has been given to the fulfillment of obligations arising from the Brussels dialogue, and in this regard, both countries are criticized for not implementing them.<\/p>\n
The normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is evaluated with the same text in both individual progress reports for each respective country, as these obligations are part of the criteria for advancement in the European integration process.<\/p>\n
Recalling the agreement reached in Brussels in February and its implementation annex a month later in Ohrid, the report expresses regret that the parties have not yet started to fulfill their obligations.<\/p>\n
The Basic Agreement and its annex require the parties to develop normal neighborly relations, recognize each other\u2019s relevant documents and national symbols. For Kosovo, the agreement implies de facto recognition by Serbia, while for the latter, its annex implies Kosovo\u2019s formation of an Association of Serb-majority municipalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth Kosovo and Serbia have not yet begun to fulfill their respective obligations arising from the Agreement, which are valid and binding for the parties and part of their European path. The parties must urgently engage more constructively and start implementing new, or precondition-free, commitments,\u201d the Progress Report states.<\/p>\n
The report highlights Kosovo\u2019s obligation to establish the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. In this regard, the document emphasizes that the initial draft of the Association\u2019s statute, presented at the high-level dialogue meeting in May and was practically Serbia\u2019s draft, \u201cwas not in line with the relevant agreements from the dialogue\u201d.<\/p>\n
The report now calls for the Association to be established based on the latest proposal given to the parties on October 21.<\/p>\n
\u201cKosovo is expected to initiate the process leading to the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities based on the European proposal, which was presented to the parties on October 21, 2023, and Serbia is required to support this process and simultaneously start fulfilling its key obligations from the Agreement,\u201d warns the report, which calls for \u201cformalities, including approval-related ones, not to be obstacles on the path of progress in implementation\u201d.<\/p>\n
The report labels the withdrawal of Kosovo Serbs from Kosovo\u2019s institutions in November 2022 and their boycott of the local elections in April 2023 as \u201cviolations of Serbia\u2019s obligations from the dialogue and a significant step backward in fulfilling the obligations from the initial agreement on the principles of normalizing relations and a direct violation of the 2015 agreement on justice\u201d.<\/p>\n
It calls on Serbia to encourage Kosovo Serbs to \u201cimmediately return to institutions\u201d, while it urges Kosovo to make this possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince November 2022, neither party has taken any steps in this direction,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n
Until November of last year, the Serb List had absolute power at both the central and local levels, when Serbs from north Kosovo left Kosovo\u2019s institutions with their initiative.<\/p>\n
Such a decision was made in order for the Kosovo Government not to implement the decision to remove license plates issued by Serbian authorities for Kosovo towns.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in April, Kosovo held extraordinary local elections in North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic, and Zubin Potok, but Serbs boycotted them. Thus, Albanian mayors came to power in late May, but the Serb majority population did not accept them, leading to protests and another political crisis.<\/p>\n
Kosovo has expressed its readiness to hold elections through an administrative directive, which allows residents of the respective municipalities to dismiss their mayors by signing it.<\/p>\n
The report also mentions other unfulfilled obligations from the dialogue, including the opening of the bridge in Mitrovica, the agreement on energy, and others. Serbia is mentioned as a party that does not implement even the agreement on cadasters and university diplomas.<\/p>\n
Serbia is urged to do more in resuming regular meetings for the implementation of the Agreement on the Common Border Management (IBM), closing illegal border crossing points, and resolving the issue of vehicle license plates \u201cas this issue has the potential to cause tensions in Kosovo\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kosovo and Serbia are asked to have \u201cconstructive behavior\u201d in regional initiatives. Furthermore, Serbia is asked to respect its obligations for Kosovo\u2019s participation, while Kosovo is asked not to block processes, as it does in the case of CEFTA, according to this report.<\/p>\n
Tensions in north Kosovo<\/strong><\/p>\n This year\u2019s Progress Report carefully describes the tensions in north Kosovo, concluding that both sides have contributed to such crises through their actions. According to the report, Kosovo has increased tensions with the presence of special police units and property law in the north, while Serbia has withdrawn Serbs from institutions and boycotted local elections.<\/p>\n In particular, the report discusses the most serious incident during this period: the attack on the Kosovo Police by an armed group of Serbs in the village of Banjska in Zvecan.<\/p>\n Although in the public statements of the EU\u2019s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, this attack has been labeled as \u201cterrorist\u201d, the Progress Report only refers to it as a \u201cviolent attack\u201d on the Kosovo Police, while within the report, it is described as a \u201cmajor arms smuggling operation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most serious crisis during the period covered by the report occurred on September 24, 2023, when the Kosovo Police was attacked by heavily armed individuals who surprised them during a major arms\u2019 trafficking operation, leaving one officer dead and three injured. During the operation, the attackers took several pilgrims hostage, barricading themselves in the Serbian Orthodox monastery in Banjska, which they left behind when they departed,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n The report calls on Serbia to fully cooperate in investigations and bring those responsible to justice.<\/p>\n Kosovo has blamed Serbia for the attack, describing it as an \u201cattempt to annex the north of Kosovo\u201d. Serbia has denied the accusations.<\/p>\n The responsibility for the attack was claimed by Milan Radoji\u010di\u0107, the former vice chairman of the Serb List \u2013 the largest party of Kosovo Serbs, which enjoys the support of official Belgrade.<\/p>\n \u201cThe attack should not serve as an excuse for any party to divert attention from the EU-facilitated dialogue. Kosovo and Serbia must make meaningful efforts to de-escalate and ensure the holding of new elections in north Kosovo as soon as possible, with the active participation of Kosovo Serbs,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n Kosovo\u2019s \u201climited\u201d progress<\/strong><\/p>\n Regarding the progress made by Kosovo in the areas monitored by the European Commission, \u201climited progress\u201d has been achieved in the fight against corruption, the functioning of the judiciary, the fight against organized crime, and freedom of expression. In most cases, the report emphasizes that there have not been sufficient results in implementation, although progress has been made in adopting the legal framework.<\/p>\n The report assesses that Kosovo has failed to reform the public administration, highlighting that there has been \u201cno progress\u201d in this field.<\/p>\n The political situation in Kosovo is considered stable, with the report noting that the Self-Determination Movement has a sufficient majority in the Kosovo Assembly, which has \u201callowed it to advance an ambitious agenda of European reforms\u201d.<\/p>\n Kosovo is commended for the electoral law reform. However, the chronic problem of the Kosovo Assembly\u2019s work is mentioned, which is due to the lack of a quorum, despite the ruling party having the necessary majority in the Assembly. Another specific issue highlighted in the report is the boycott of Serbian deputies, who attend only to preserve their mandates but continue the boycott.<\/p>\n In late October, the Kosovo Assembly failed to vote on a draft resolution requesting urgent financial support for the Kosovo Police due to the lack of a quorum.<\/p>\n The report provides some observations in the field of media freedom. It mentions attacks and threats against journalists, media financing problems that make them susceptible to political or financial interests, and the lack of transparency in media ownership. A particular concern in the report is the state of media freedom in north Kosovo.<\/p>\n Dozens of journalists were attacked in north Kosovo while covering protests by Serbian groups against elected Albanian mayors in majority-Serb municipalities this summer.<\/p>\n No cases of attacks against journalists in north Kosovo are currently being prosecuted. According to the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK), 30 such attacks were recorded in the Serb-majority-inhabited area out of a total of 60 reported in Kosovo this year.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the package of enlargement, along with individual progress reports for all countries involved in the enlargement process, will be approved by the College of 27 Commissioners.<\/p>\n This is the first time that reports will be approved for the 10 countries in this process. Six countries from the Western Balkans are included: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, followed by Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine, while the progress report is still being made for Turkey, which formally maintains candidate status.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European Commission has reprimanded Kosovo and Serbia for not implementing the agreements reached in the dialogue mediated by the European Union in its progress reports for both countries, which are expected to be published on Wednesday. Radio Free Europe has seen a draft of the 150-page report, which assesses whether or not Kosovo has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":61992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[308,2438,300,150,243,151,5067,301],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n