Relations between Pristina and Belgrade has been from crisis in crisis since the war which ended in 1999. Serbia refuses to recognize independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former province.
The world with AFP
The leaders of Kosovo and Serbia did not succeed on Saturday, March 18, to sign an agreement on the normalization of their relations, during marathon talks carried out under the aegis of the European Union.
Prime Minister Kosovar Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had found themselves for twelve hours of negotiations on the shores of Lake Ohrid, in Northern Macedonia, under the leadership of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. Westerners have multiplied in recent months the pressures on Belgrade and Pristina in order to prevent a possible outbreak of tensions in the fragile region of the Balkans, while war rages in Ukraine invaded by Russia more than a year ago.
The Ohrid meeting took place after the failure last month of talks in Brussels last month, where a European peace plan in eleven articles had been revealed, more than two decades after a deadly war between Kosovars and Forces independent rebels and forces Serbs. Brussels wanted the agreement of both parties to an annex to apply this European proposal aimed at normalizing relations between Serbia and its former province. “The parties could not find a mutually acceptable solution as ambitious as that we proposed,” Joseph Borrell told the press. 2> “OK”
Serbia refuses to recognize independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former province, including the population of 1.8 million inhabitants, mostly of Albanian origin, has a Serbian community of around 120,000 people. Since the war, which ended in 1999 with NATO bombings, relations between Pristina and Belgrade goes from crisis to crisis.
In Ohrid, the two leaders recognized that progress had been made but did not deprive themselves of sending spikes to each other. “The other camp, exactly as at the last meeting in Brussels on February 27, avoids signing the agreement, and now the annex,” Prime Minister Kosovar Albin Kurti told journalists. “It is now up to the European Union to find a mechanism so that this agreement is legally and internationally binding,” added Kosovar. The Serbian President also poured on the results of the meeting. “I think we took an important step in a constructive atmosphere and we will start working on things. Of course, it was not a kind of D -day, it was a day ok”.