The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell said today that it was not easy to reduce tensions and avoid conflict between Belgrade and Pristina, but the dialogue under the auspices of the EU has achieved success, Tanjug reported, quoted by BTA.
Serbia does not recognize the independence of Kosovo declared in 2008. The two countries are conducting a dialogue to normalize relations under the auspices of the EU.
Borrell has published a compilation of the texts he has posted on his blog over the years. The text dedicated to the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, first published on the blog in March last year, states that “the vicious circle on the verge of escalation or even violence” was interrupted primarily by the EU Proposal for the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, supported by all 27 EU member states at an EU Council meeting in February 2023.
„There were highs and lows, and too often issues that were perceived as small and technical turned out to be very sensitive and political, with the potential to escalate into violence,”, Borrell pointed out, adding that in 2020, organized several meetings at the level of chief negotiators in Brussels, which were focused on the negotiation of the comprehensive legally binding agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which deals with all outstanding issues.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti adopted an Agreement on the Normalization of Relations on February 27 last year in Brussels, Tanjug recalls.
Borrell noted that in 2023 the EU realized that it had to “push“ the dialogue for the normalization of relations before it is too late because, in his words, the beginning of the war in Ukraine has changed the picture. According to him, after the beginning of the war, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue was considered in a wider geopolitical context.
Borrell wrote that the Agreement is key to the normalization of life for people in the region.
„People who live in the Balkans do not want to be left in the 90s. At the moment when I officially assumed the post of High Representative for EU Foreign Policy and Security and Vice-President of the European Commission, the Western Balkans naturally became the main focus of my attention,”, Borel also wrote.