Borrell: Serbia and Kosovo agree on the EU plan

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti agreed in February on eleven points in the European Union’s plan to normalize relations between their two countries.

The weekend talks in North Macedonia were about how to put the plan into action. According to the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, who mediates between the two former warring neighbors, an agreement has been reached.

“The two parties pledged to respect all the terms of the agreement and to carry out their obligations in an efficient manner and in good faith,” Borrell wrote on Twitter late Saturday night.

“Agree on certain points”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed that “some kind of agreement” had been reached.

– We agreed on certain points, not on all points. This is not the final agreement, Vucic told reporters after the talks.

The two countries hope to join the European Union at some point in the future.

The idea behind the EU plan is for countries to recognize each other’s national symbols and official documents, and for Serbia to stop blocking Kosovo’s attempts to join the United Nations.

compressed

The President of Serbia appears to be backing away from some parts of the EU plan at a later date. Vucic is under intense pressure from the more militant nationalist groups that consider Kosovo the cradle of the Serbian state.

Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, had previously expressed a little more hope, but he wasn’t so optimistic.

Albin Kurti said before the weekend talks: – I was ready to sign the European proposal (at the last meeting in Brussels), but the other side was not ready and refused.