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The head of the European Union's foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said that the foreign ministers of the bloc called on Kosovo and Serbia to fulfill the obligations arising from the agreement on the normalization of relations between them and expressed concern with the lack of progress of the meeting last week between the parties in Brussels.
Borrell briefed EU foreign ministers on Monday evening about the September 14 meeting in which the parties failed to make any progress.
"The ministers expressed their concern with the non-fulfillment of the obligations from the agreement on the road to the normalization of relations. Both sides agreed on this normalization path earlier this year. It is an obligation and the Council of Ministers is asking the parties to engage constructively and in good spirit for its implementation," said Borrell.
Both sides agreed in February in Brussels and in March in Ohrid for an agreement based on a European plan that does not include mutual recognition but requires good neighborly relations, recognition of documents and symbols and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. of each other. It requires that the parties do not hinder each other in the integration processes and envisages the fulfillment of all agreements previously reached in the negotiations mediated by the European Union, including the one for the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo.
"What we want, what we demand, is to start implementation based on our proposal without further delay. And that includes the obligation for both parties to fully implement prior agreements," said Borrell.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić disagreed last week on steps to implement the agreement, while European officials said it was Prime Minister Kurti who did not accept a proposal for "simultaneous fulfillment" of obligations arising from the Ohrid agreement.
On Monday, Prime Minister Kurti blamed the European envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia talks, Miroslav Lajcak, for the failure of the talks, accusing him of bias and attitudes against Pristina.
There was no immediate reaction from the European Union, but Borrell said on Monday that the bloc's foreign ministers reiterated their full support for the mediators.
The US State Department in a statement to the Voice of America praised Lajcak's tireless efforts in the Kosovo-Serbia talks.
In New York, the two senior American officials, Derek Chollet and Gabriel Escobar, said that they discussed with the President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani about "our joint commitment to the Euro-Atlantic future of Kosovo, the need to reduce tensions and to engage urgently in the dialogue facilitated by the EU for the normalization of relations with Serbia - which is the key to regional stability and integration in the European Union".
President Osmani wrote on social networks that "the role of the United States is essential to successfully complete the process, paving the way for mutual recognition".
Western diplomats are calling for the parties to speed up the normalization process amid concerns of renewed violence in the region, which is still recovering from the wars of the 1990s.
There is a widespread fear in the West that Russia could use Belgrade to foment ethnic conflicts in the Balkans, to divert the world's attention from its aggression in Ukraine. /VOA
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