Brussels, 21 November 2022
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, had three trilateral meetings and three bilateral meetings during eight hours in Brussels, with the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell and the Special Representative of the European Union for Dialogue Kosovo – Serbia, Miroslav Lajčák and under the mediation of Mr. Borrell and Mr. Lajčák met the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
The general framework of the agreement for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, the implementation of the decision on illegal license plates, and other current issues were the central topics of these meetings.
They talked about the concrete proposal for a joint statement, which meant in the first paragraph the commitment to deal urgently with the proposal of the European Union for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, supported by France, Germany and the United States of America.
Although during today’s meetings the agreement was close, the issue of the proposal of the European Union was not accepted by the Serbian side, because they do not consider that proposal as a good basis for holding talks on the normalization of relations, as the Government of the Republic of Kosova does.
“We were close to agreement in the sense that we had agreed to suspend the next phase of the implementation of our decision on the issue of converting license plates from illegal ones to those of the Republic of Kosovo, i.e. the fines, to continue only with those reprimands, while on the other hand Serbia to stop producing, and issuing license plates in Serbia that have the names of the cities of Kosovo. But, of course, this is not acceptable to us if it is not accompanied by what we were invited for, that is, the agreement to urgently commit to a final agreement for full normalization of relations,” said Prime Minister Kurti after the meetings.
In the proposal for the joint statement by Mr. Borrell and Lajčák, has been the deadline for a new agreement to be reached before March 2023.
Prime Minister Kurti reiterated that the Government of the Republic of Kosovo is a constructive party committed to a legally binding agreement for the normalization of relations. He said he hopes that the European Union will find the strength to stand behind its proposal for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
Last modified: November 22, 2022