EU, U.S.: Vucic, Kurti Should Develop European Plan

Miroslav Lajcak with the Chief foreign policy advisers and DAS Escobar, Belgrade, Jan.20 2023 (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

The European Union and U.S. expect the leaders of Belgrade and Pristina to accept the European proposal as the principles and starting point for a comprehensive, legally binding regulation of relations between the two sides at a Feb. 27 meeting in Brussels, and to begin to develop its application within a few months, with the concurrent mandatory formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities.

Brussels officials in the know about the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue told reporters behind closed doors that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti had let it be known that they would also present their "lines in the sand" and conditions vis-a-vis the European proposal, also known as the French-German plan.

The European mediators, however, underscored that the EU and U.S. felt strongly that "the European, German-French proposal" bore that in mind and offered solutions, and said Washington had noted that the final agreement would entail significant concessions and "painful compromises for both sides." That is why the content of the EU proposal, established in an annex and unpublished, will not be discussed immediately; rather the ways and steps to implement it as soon as possible will. Officials in Brussels elaborated further on their position that accepting and implementing this agreement by Belgrade would mean a practical recognition of Kosovo as independent, but not an official one, as the "starting points and principles" of the agreement do not require it.

Earlier, Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar, the EU's and U.S.'s special representatives for the Western Balkans, respectively, pointed out that the solution for a comprehensive agreement was for Serbia to not oppose Kosovo joining international organizations whcih was borrowed from the agreement between the two erstwhile Germanies to resolve their relations -- while Bonn did not recognize East Germany, it did not oppose it joining the U.N.

BETA asked European diplomatic sources for an interpretation of how Kosovo could join the U.N. if Serbia signed the European plan and practically accepted the independence of its breakway province if two permanent members of the Security Council, Russia and China, oppose it because Serbia never officially recognized Kosovo, but received no answer.