Resolving Serbia-Kosovo disputes has become more important for the EU as the war in Ukraine rages
It is a fact that the situation in the Western Balkans, due to nationalist tendencies and the intervention of foreign powers, recently carried serious risks of a military flare-up, especially between Serbia and Kosovo.
The EU, aware of the danger it has to face together with the war in Ukraine and a new military flare-up in the Balkans, decided to act before “the fire starts”, bringing Serbia and Kosovo to the dialogue table, with very good results, after achieving the two of them to agree on the implementation of a plan to normalize their relations.
“The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have tentatively agreed on how to implement a plan to normalize their relations after decades of tension between the two Balkan foes,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, adding that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti “reached an agreement on how to do it “.
It is recalled that last month the leaders of the 2 countries agreed on the formulation of an 11-point EU plan to normalize their relations after the neighboring war in 1998-1999 and Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008.
“The goal was to now agree on how to implement the agreement that was accepted at the last high-level meeting ,” Borrell said. ” This means practical steps on what needs to be done, when, by whom and how.”
The road to the EU
Both countries hope to join the European Union one day, as they must first improve their relations. Resolving the Serbia-Kosovo dispute has become more important for the EU as the war in Ukraine rages and fears mount that Russia could seek to destabilize the volatile Balkans, where it has historical influence.
Borrell said that despite the fact that ” a more ambitious text” was proposed at the beginning of the negotiations than the one accepted by the parties, “it will become an integral part of their respective course in the European Union”.
“It is clear that both parties will derive significant benefit from this agreement, while the dialogue is about the stability, security and prosperity of the entire region,” Borrell said.
The EU plan calls for the two countries to maintain good-neighborly relations and formally recognize each other, which, if implemented, would prevent Belgrade from standing up to Kosovo’s efforts to join the United Nations and other international organizations .
Chronology
Kosovo was a former Serbian province with a majority of Albanian origin.
The 1998-1999 war broke out when separatist Albanians rebelled against Serbian rule and Belgrade responded with repression.
In 1999 a NATO military intervention forced Serbia to withdraw from the territory. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008.
Tensions have simmered since then. Kosovo’s independence is recognized by many Western countries, but not by Greece and 5 other EU countries, while Belgrade opposes it with the support of Russia and China.
Serbia has maintained close ties with its traditional Slavic ally, Russia, despite the war in Ukraine, in part because of Moscow’s opposition to Kosovo’s independence and potential veto of its UN membership.
Turkey’s position
Turkey has welcomed the agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia on the implementation of an EU-backed deal to normalize relations.
“We welcome the fact that after reaching an agreement on the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels, within the framework of the European Union road map, the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have agreed on its implementation in Ohrid,” a statement from Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ministry expressed the hope that the parties ” will fully comply with the provisions of the said agreement and achieve concrete results in the next period” .
“Our country is contributing to the process, especially on the issue of electricity distribution. Our President recently had separate meetings with both Serbian President Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Kurti. As Turkey, we will continue to support all initiatives aimed at in the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia ,” it added.
What will happen next
In conclusion, we would say that Serbia is in the middle of conflicting interests between Russia and the EU-USA, since the former wants to keep it as its ally in the Balkans, while Brussels and Washington want to “pull” it towards the West, essentially depriving the possibility of substantial intervention by Moscow in the Balkans in the future.
Belgrade realizes that at this stage Russia cannot reinforce it, having turned its full attention to the war in Ukraine and having no land border with Serbia.
Vucic also sees his country becoming dangerously isolated internationally, which in our view pushes him to become more flexible and debatable on the Kosovo issue, as demonstrated by the non-recurrence of recent episodes of heated military conflict and the signing of a road plan map of normalization of its relations with Kosovo, thanks to the intervention of the EU.
Finally, we know that there are historical ties between Moscow and Belgrade, which are not at all easy to sever from one moment to another, as long as Serbia wants to turn to the West, which is apparent, so we consider that it is very likely that from now on there will be serious internal problems and unrest in the friendly country of Serbia.
Source: Penta Postagma