Vucic talks with Sarrazi about the "unimplemented agreements" between Kosovo and Serbia

2024-06-14 13:49:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Vucic talks with Sarrazi about the "unimplemented agreements" between

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic. Source Reuters

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vu?i?, said on Friday that he talked with the special envoy of Germany for the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin, about the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, as well as about the situation in the region.

Vucic wrote on his Instagram account that he had an "open and direct" conversation with Sarrazi about the "unimplemented agreements" from the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, "in the first place, those related to the security of Serbs in Kosovo, especially the establishment of the Association with a Serbian majority".

"I reiterated that Germany and the international community in Serbia have a reliable partner in maintaining peace and stability, strengthening cooperation and regional prosperity. But protecting the national interests of the state and the Serbian people will always be our priority," said Vucic.

A day earlier, the German ambassador in Pristina, Jorn Rohde, reiterated Germany's position that the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia should be concluded with mutual recognition.

Under the mediation of the EU, Kosovo and Serbia in 2023 reached the Agreement towards the normalization of relations. It later became known as the Ohrid Agreement, but this too has remained largely unimplemented.

"Just to remind you: Read Chancellor Olaf Scholz's clear statement during his visit to Kosovo and Serbia in June 2022 on normalization, including bilateral recognition," Rohde wrote on the X social network late Thursday.

He said that "this still applies", adding that the way is already open for Kosovo and Serbia through the "immediate" implementation of the agreements reached in 2023 for the normalization of neighboring relations.

His statement came shortly after the American ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, in an interview for the June 13 edition of the weekly NIN from Belgrade, said that the formal recognition of Kosovo will not be a condition for Serbia's entry into the European Union (EU). Earlier on Thursday, EU spokesman Peter Stano told Radio Free Europe that Serbia cannot become a member of the European Union without normalizing its relations with Kosovo.

They also reached agreement on the Association in 2013 and then in 2015 on the principles for its establishment. In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that the agreement is not in full harmony with the Constitution.

Serbia demands that Kosovo implement the agreements reached, but the Government of Kosovo has declared against a mono-ethnic association./REL