BERLIN, 19 March. /TASS/. The German government welcomed the agreements reached by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti, noting that this would help take relations between Belgrade and Pristina to a new level. This was announced on Sunday by the official representative of the German Cabinet, Steffen Hebestreit, on Twitter.
“Congratulations on this breakthrough to put relations between Serbia and Kosovo on a new footing! Now it’s all about taking the lead in respecting and implementing what’s agreed,” Hebeshtreit stressed. “We will be at your side to realize your European perspective!” he concluded.
On Saturday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, following talks in North Macedonia between the leaders of the unrecognized Kosovo and Serbia mediated by the EU, which lasted more than 12 hours, said that Vucic and Kurti had agreed on a course of action to normalize relations, his first step should be the implementation of Pristina its obligations to grant the Serbian minority the rights of self-government. In turn, on Sunday night, the Serbian leader announced that Pristina had pledged to begin the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija.
In accordance with the Brussels agreements on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina of April 19, 2013, the Community of Serbian Municipalities (SCM) is to be created in Kosovo – a self-governing body of Serbs living in the unrecognized republic. Vučić has repeatedly stated that his country has fulfilled its part of the Brussels agreements, while the Kosovars only began to develop the SCM charter, and then suspended this process.
On February 27, Vučić and Kurti, at negotiations mediated by Borrell in Brussels, agreed on the “Agreement on the path to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia” prepared by the EU, but did not sign it and postponed the discussion of the sequence of actions for its implementation until March 18. The document includes the mutual recognition of passports, Serbia’s refusal to represent Kosovo on the world stage, the exchange of diplomatic missions, as well as the legal obligations of the parties to work towards a comprehensive normalization of relations.
