BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2022) Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti blamed EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell for failure to negotiate exact steps for an agreement on full normalization of relations with Serbia, Kosovo media reported on Monday.
On Monday, Borrell held a new round of talks between Belgrade and Pristina amid heightened tensions in the border region. At the end of the talks Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic declared that negotiations on delayed measures of the Kosovo authorities, including fines for Serbian license plates, have failed and "hard days" with unknown outcome were coming for Kosovo and Metohija.
"The EU suggested that Kosovo doesn't issue fines for illegal license plates and continue with warnings, while Serbia no longer issues plates with letter abbreviations of Kosovo cities," Kurti said, as quoted by the Kosovo Online internet media.
Kurti noted that this proposal was unacceptable since the EU, acting as a mediator, did not suggest further steps for signing a final agreement on full normalization of relations and rejected the previously agreed date, March 2023, according to the media.
Kurti believes that if March 2023 was suggested by Germany and France, it should have been the proposal of the whole European Union.
The Kosovo authorities require that local Serbs re-register their car plates, demanding that they feature the EU-standard letter code of RKS (Republic of Kosovo) instead of KM, the Serbian identifier for the disputed region of Kosovska Mitrovica on the border. This requirement caused social unrest, including clashes between the Serb population and the Kosovo police and burning of cars. The deadline for the re-registration was October 31.
On August 27, Belgrade and Pristina reached an EU-brokered compromise deal on entry and exit regulations. Serbia agreed to abolish entry-exit documents for Kosovo ID holders, while Kosovo agreed not to introduce them for Serbian citizens. Belgrade maintains the move is only aimed at streamlining border crossing and does not mean that Serbia recognizes Kosovo's independence.
