EU: Agreements Reached within Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Must Be Respected

Peter Stano (Photo: print screen/youtube)

Spokesman for the European Commission Peter Stano said in a comment 12 months after Pristina’s decision to ban Serbian imports into Kosovo that Kosovo and Serbia must respect all of the agreements that they had reached within the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, and refrain from unilateral and uncoordinated moves.

Stano was replying to a journalist’s question on June 14 about the Union’s stance on the Pristina authorities' decision to maintain the ban for a year. “The European Union’s position is that in everything they do, Kosovo and Serbia must abide by the agreements reached within the Dialogue, and prevent or refrain from uncoordinated and unilateral moves,” EU High Representative Josep Borrell’s spokesman explained.

The Union believes that “in everything they do,” both Pristina and Serbia “must focus on the Agreement on the Path to Normalization of Relations between Kosovo and Serbia.”

Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic said on June 14 that the ban was a blatant violation of the human rights of the Serbs living in Kosovo, the goal being to expel them from Kosovo. The Government of Kosovo banned the import of Serbian products into Kosovo on June 14, 2023, explaining that the decision was for security reasons.