Critical day in relations between Kosovo and Serbia

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will meet today in Brussels to assess the proposal known as the Franco-German Plan, which is expected to take relations between the two countries to a new dimension.

The plan, supported by all US and EU members, was presented to the parties in an “accept or leave” format that they could not negotiate. The leaders were invited to Brussels after they declared that they accepted the plan in principle. During the meeting, the parties are expected to create a roadmap for the plan and determine which items will be prioritized for implementation.

According to information leaked to the media, the plan foresees that Kosovo will allow the establishment of the Union of Serb Municipalities in municipalities populated mostly by Serbs.

The agreement on the establishment of the Union of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo was signed between Kosovo and Serbia in 2013, under the mediation of the EU, but it could not be put into practice because some of its articles did not comply with the Kosovo constitution.

Serbia is also called upon to respect Kosovo’s territorial integrity, recognize official documents with the phrase Republic of Kosovo, and allow it to become a member of international organizations.

Serbian President Vucic says he will not sign an agreement until the Union of Serbian Municipalities is established. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Kurti also claims that a “mono-ethnic” union in his country is unacceptable under the conditions Serbia demands.

JOINT CHARTER OF GERMANY, FRANCE AND ITALY

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sent a letter to the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia a day before the critical meeting in Brussels.

In the letter sent by the European leaders to Kurti and shared with the press by the Kosovar prime minister, the leaders informed that they believe it is urgent to sign the agreement and put it into practice on the basis of the accepted text. The letter sent by the European leaders to Serbian President Vucic was not shared with the press.

The EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, in an interview with the Kosovo State Television RTK, announced that they will not force Kosovo to accept anything contrary to its legal system. Lajcak compared the meeting to be held in Brussels to “D-Day”, which was used to refer to the landing of the Allied forces against Nazi Germany in Normandy during World War II, will be made public and has positives for both parties. We expect you to officially state your acceptance of the plan. It will be more than a verbal statement,” he said. (AA)