Kosovo, Serbia with added diplomatic pressure from US, EU

In a letter of congratulations to Kosovo's new prime minister, Albin Kurti, on the occasion of his election and a wish for President Hashim Thaci on the anniversary of Kosovo's independence, President Macron said he is willing to organise a meeting in Paris between the two sides, but for that one should lift tariffs on Serbian goods and Belgrade give up the campaign against Kosovo independence.

Such demand towards both sides, already repeated by Europeans, has been extended by American diplomacy, which has been set to try to renew the process of normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia,

On Friday, Ambassador Richard Greenell, special envoy of President Donald Trump for the Kosovo talks, Serbia, brokered the signing of an agreement on the railway line and the highway linking both countries.

Its signing took place in the presence of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic, while hours later Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said from Munich that signatories of the agreement were not authorised by his government.

But there were different voices within his government. The agreement was supported by ruling coalition officials from the ranks of the Democratic League of Kosovo.

For American diplomats, the Munich agreement is a historic advance and both sides must exploit the situation created by the new US administration engagement, writes VOA.

Kosovo talks Serbia has been suspended since November 2018, when the Kosovo government imposed 100 per cent tariffs on Serbian goods in response to Belgrade's approach to Kosovo citizenship. Belgrade conditions the continuation of normalisation talks with Kosovo with the removal of these tariffs.

Mr. Kurti has pledged to do so, but conditioning the removal of tariffs with the establishment of full reciprocity measures with Serbia. He reiterated such a goal even during the debate on a panel under Munich's conference, where Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was present, who said later that “had strict exchange” with Prime Minister Kurti.

The debate has developed with closed doors, but a video appeared on social networks where Prime Minister Kurti presents three principles for continuing talks with Serbia. According to him, there is no agreement without dialogue, there is no dialogue with maps and recently without presidents about maps, thus criticising ideas that were dropped in 2018 by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic for touching borders within the normalisation process between them.

Prime Minister Kurti had prompted the Serbian president's reaction during the debate, saying that while 20 years ago Kosovo has been freed from Serbian occupation, it is now time for Serbia to be released from Kosovo.

The Serbian president said Saturday that he had defended Serbia's authority in Munich. “Just like I did last night after some terrible words on a panel where it was said we have occupied Kosovo, that we have committed the most serious crimes and genocide”, he said.

On February 17th, Kosovo marks the 12th anniversary of its independence, which was declared with the support of the United States and the main countries of the European Union, while opposed by Serbia and its ally Russia.

But both sides are aimed at integration into the European Union and the condition for this is the comprehensive normalisation of relations between them.