Serbia, Kosovo leaders back EU plan, top diplomat says

Feb 27, 2023, 12:47 AM | Updated: 1:57 pm

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, left, speaks with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Bo...

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, left, speaks with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell prior to a meeting in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have given tacit approval to a European Union-sponsored plan to end months of political crises and help improve their ties longer-term, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday after chairing talks between them.

Speaking alone at a news conference after a series of meetings in Brussels, Borrell told reporters that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti “have today agreed that no further discussions are needed for the European Union proposal.”

Both countries want to join the EU, which has told them that they first need to sort out their differences.

Borrell provided few details about the talks — and reporters were not permitted to ask questions — except to say that “more work is needed” and that the two leaders would meet again next month.

Vucic said separately that “I hoped we would be able to agree to some compromises, but Mr. Kurti was not ready for that.” Vucic added that there was no talk about how to put the EU plan into action.

Kurti, for his part, said both leaders accepted the text but that the “Serb side was not ready to sign it.”

Tensions have simmered between Serbia and its former province since Kosovo unilaterally broke away in 2008; a move recognized by many Western countries but opposed by Serbia, with the backing of Russia and China. EU-brokered talks between them have made little headway in recent years.

Recently, those tensions flared over seemingly trivial matters like vehicle license plate formats, or the arrest of an ethnic Serb police officer, triggering fresh concern among Western leaders that a new Balkan conflict might break out just as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its second year.

But Borrell expressed cautious optimism that the two sides can now move on from the “crisis management” of recent months. “I hope the agreement can also be the basis to build much needed trust and overcome the legacy of the past,” he said.

He said the blueprint means “that people can move freely between Serbia and Kosovo using their own passports — mutually recognized — IDs, and license plates. It entails that people can study and work without wondering whether their diplomas, and where they obtained them, may be an issue.”

Borrell said it offers new economic opportunities to both sides through increased financial assistance, business cooperation and the prospect of new investment. He said the plan would provide better jobs and improve trade by removing the need for import-export certificates.

Kurti urged all Kosovar people and experts to read the agreement, telling reporters that “we are on a good one-way path of normalizing ties between Kosovo and Serbia in a good European neighborhood.”

Borrell also welcomed a commitment from Vucic and Kurti to ensure that Serbia and Kosovo “refrain from any uncoordinated action that could lead to renewed tensions on the ground and derail these negotiations.”

Previous talks between Vucic and Kurti have degenerated into arguments and mutual recrimination.

The EU has mediated negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo since 2011, but few of the 33 agreements that have been signed were put into action. The EU and the U.S. have pressed for faster progress since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

Earlier this month, hundreds of Serbian nationalists gathered in Belgrade to demand that Vucic reject the EU plan and pull out of the talks.

Shouting “Treason” and carrying banners reading “No surrender,” the right-wing protesters blocked traffic as they gathered near the Serbian presidency building. The protesters are also strongly pro-Russia, and one banner read: “Betrayal of Kosovo is betrayal of Russia!”

In recent months, U.S. and EU envoys have visited Pristina and Belgrade regularly to encourage them to accept the new proposals, and the two leaders met with senior EU representatives on the sidelines of a major security conference in the German city of Munich earlier this month.

___

Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia and Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania contributed.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


              Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, left, speaks with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell prior to a meeting in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
            
              Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, shakes hands with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell prior to a meeting in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
            
              Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, center, waits prior to a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
            
              European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, pours a cup of coffee for Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, right, prior to a meeting in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
            
              Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic waits for the start of a meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
            
              Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, and Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, right, meet with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, second left, in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
            
              Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, and Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, right, meet with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, second left, in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
            
              FILE - A car passes by a billboard reading: ''Serbia without Kosovo would be like a human without heart'', placed on a street in front of the government building in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
            
              FILE - Kosovo Security Force members march during celebrations to mark the 15th anniversary of independence, in Pristina, Kosovo, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo, File)
            
              FILE - Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in capital Pristina, Kosovo, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Franc Zhurda, File)
            
              FILE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks during a public address in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)
            
              FILE - A man waves a Serbian, bottom, and Russian flags during a protest against the Serbian authorities and French-German plan for the resolution of the Kosovo, in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are holding talks Monday on European Union proposals aimed at ending a long series of political crises and setting the two on the path to better relations and ultimately mutual recognition. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic File)

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Serbia, Kosovo leaders back EU plan, top diplomat says