Kurti: The agreement with Serbia must be implemented unconditionally

2023-05-28 12:57:08, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that the Agreement towards the normalization of relations with Serbia, and its Annex must be implemented quickly and unconditionally and be fully implemented.

Kurti met on May 28 with the rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, Viola von Cramon, and the head of the European Union office, Tomas Szunyog.

On February 27 in Brussels, Kosovo and Serbia reached an Agreement towards the normalization of relations, while in March in Ohrid, agreement was also reached on the Annex for its implementation.

This agreement does not include the mutual recognition that Kosovo insists on, but requires Kosovo and Serbia to accept each other's documents and symbols, including: passports, diplomas and license plates.

The document of 11 articles also requires the parties to implement all the agreements reached so far in the dialogue for the normalization of relations, including the one for the formation of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo, which the Government in Prishtina has rejected it so far, on the grounds that it could jeopardize the functionality of the state.

During the meeting with the European officials, according to the announcement, Kurti talked with them about the recent tensions in the north of Kosovo, after entering the municipal offices of the new mayors of Zveçan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq.

"The Prime Minister recalled that the elections in the four municipalities in the north of the country were postponed once in December, and that now after their holding on April 23, it is important to start as soon as possible with the provision of basic services to citizens, which have absent since the beginning of November last year after the resignation of the previous presidents", the announcement said.

On May 26, groups of local Serbs clashed with the Kosovo Police who assisted the new mayors to enter the municipal buildings.

On May 25, the new mayors of Zubin Potok, Leposaviq and Zveçan took the oath in schools and other municipal buildings, for security reasons. Meanwhile, the mayor of North Mitrovica had previously sworn in the municipality building, as this municipality is the only one in the north that has separate municipal buildings for institutions that work according to the Kosovo system and parallel ones, which work according to the Serbian system.

The international community condemned Prishtina's actions and described as "forced entry" the new mayors going to their offices in the municipalities.

Elections in the four municipalities in the north, inhabited by a majority of Serbs, were held on April 23 after the resignation of the mayors from the ranks of the Serbian List - the largest party of Kosovo Serbs - in November last year.

This party abandoned all the institutions of Kosovo, due to the decision of the Government in Pristina to carry out the process of re-registration of cars with illegal Serbian license plates.

The elections were boycotted by the majority Serbian population in that area, which now does not accept the results, namely the new mayors./REL