The authorities of self-proclaimed Kosovo are backpedaling on an agreement reached earlier with Serbia to create the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities (ASM), saying they will not fulfill their obligations until the Serbian leadership recognizes Kosovo's independence, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday
BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2020) The authorities of self-proclaimed Kosovo are backpedaling on an agreement reached earlier with Serbia to create the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities (ASM), saying they will not fulfill their obligations until the Serbian leadership recognizes Kosovo's independence, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday.
On Monday, Vucic, prime minister Ana Brnabic and parliament speaker Ivica Dacic held a government meeting on the economy and the situation in the autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija (KiM).
"The interim authorities in Pristina, with which we are negotiating, do not fulfill their obligations under the previously signed agreements and are saying that it is necessary for Serbia to call for the independence of Kosovo and only then they will create the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities (ASM). But they pledged to create the ASM not on the terms of recognition of independence," Vucic said at a briefing.
In September, Vucic said that the formation of the ASM with a predominantly Slavic population on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija has become one of the key points at the new stage of the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels.
Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008. The self-proclaimed republic is recognized by over 100 UN member states. Serbia, as well as Russia, China, and a number of other countries, have not recognized the Kosovar independence.
In 2013, Kosovo and Serbia signed the Brussels Agreement which stipulated the establishment of the Association of Serb- majority Municipalities. In 2015, they agreed on principles for the establishment of the ASM. The last deadline given by Brussels for the implementation of these agreements, August 4, 2018, was not met by Pristina, which then led to an increase in tensions in Kosovo.
