EU leaders come out with a joint statement: Kurti to make the Association, Vucic to the recognition

2023-10-27 19:13:47Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

EU leaders come out with a joint statement: Kurti to make the Association, Vucic

EU leaders during the meeting with Kurt

The leaders of the European Union have come out with a joint statement after the meeting held in Brussels with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti and the President of Serbia, Aleksandër Vucic.

In their joint statement they state that the focus should now be on advancing the full implementation of the agreement without preconditions or delays.

While they add that to make this possible, Kurti should make the Association, while Vucic should make the "de facto" recognition of the Association.

EU leaders' statement:

We, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Olaf Scholz and the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, Giorgia Meloni, together with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell and the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other regional issues of the Western Balkans, Miroslav Lajčak, met with the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Kosovo, Albin Kurti, on the sidelines of the European Council on October 26, 2023.

We welcome the commitment of the two parties in yesterday's discussions in Brussels. We take into account the comments of the two leaders of Kosovo and Serbia on the European Statute for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo and their expressed willingness to implement it. The draft statute that we presented and fully endorse includes a modern European way to address the sensitive issue of minority protection in accordance with European best practices and standards, within the parameters set by the parties.

Therefore, we underline once again our expectation that the parties fulfill their commitments for the implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization. The implementation phase should progress with both parties fulfilling their respective obligations in parallel in a step-by-step manner based on the principle that both parties must do something to get something. The focus must now be on advancing the full implementation of the Agreement without preconditions or delays.

In order to achieve rapid progress in implementation, we call on Kosovo to initiate the procedure for the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo as described in the draft statute and Serbia to make de-facto recognition. Formalities, including adoption, should not hinder progress in this matter.

We now expect Kosovo and Serbia to quickly agree on the details in the EU-facilitated Dialogue. In the absence of progress in normalizing relations, both sides risk losing important opportunities.