Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti. Photo:EPA-EFE/ANDREAS GORA / POOL

Kurti Hails Franco-German Plan, Says Serbia Wants to Sabotage it

The Prime Minister said he does not oppose the Franco-German proposal for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, but accuses Belgrade of inciting tensions in Kosovo to sink the plan.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Wednesday said Serbia is destabilizing the North because the President of Serbia, Aleksander Vucic, has rejected the Franco-German plan for Kosovo and is using illegal structures in the North to destabilize the country. 

“Belgrade has rejected the Franco-German plan and is now making a drama to mask the rejection,” he emphasized. 

Kurti said Kosovo sees the Franco-German plan as a step in the right direction. 

The proposal was mentioned on October 8, by Serbia’s Vucic, who called it unacceptable. “It is requested that Serbia allows Kosovo to join all international institutions and organizations, including the United Nations. For this, Serbia would be guaranteed quick membership in the EU, and perhaps other great economic benefits,” Vucic said. 

The Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Glauk Konjufca, on Tuesday said that the plan was basically a good solution for Kosovo-Serbia relations. 

Its existence was discussed in Berlin on November 3 by the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen confirmed that this plan is now integrated into the broader dialogue process.

The European Union on Wednesday told BIRN that it had gathered the responses of Kosovo and Serbia on the proposal. 

The EU spokesperson for Foreign Policy and Security, Peter Stano, said the EU was already examining the positions of both sides regarding this proposal.

“The EU, supported by France and Germany, has presented a proposal to the parties to make concrete and irreversible progress on the way to the comprehensive normalization of their relations. We have already received the answers from both sides and are examining them,” Stano said. 

Meanwhile, the US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, has also given support to the proposal, stressing that it should be taken seriously. 

EURACTIV on Wednesday leaked a document from the plan emphasizing that it had obtained it from a trusted source. 

This draft, according to EURACTIV, focuses on the normalization of relations from the perspective of a common EU future, with the most critical element being the exchange of permanent missions, similar to embassies, but at a lower level. 

The mediated dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia started in 2011. Since then, several agreements were signed but some of them have not been implemented. 

So far, the most disputed agreement is on the creation of an Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, signed in 2013. 

PM Kurti has stated that Kosovo is against the formation of such a single-ethnic association. Serbia, on the other hand, insists that the association be formed and have executive powers. 

11/11/2022 - 12:20

11 November 2022 - 12:20

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