Lajcak: Kosovo, Serbia to decide final agreement

He made these comments after meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina, which he said has also discussed the Franco-German initiative for the Kosovo-Serbia agreement, but without detail.

“Meeting with Mr. Kurti has been very constructive and useful and we are making progress in our discussions”, he said.

Mr. Lajcak said he has not seen any documents for the Association statute for Serbian municipalities published days earlier in local media in Kosovo, claiming it was drafted by German experts and refers to the 2013 agreement reached in Kosovo talks Serbia in Brussels.

In the visit, which is the second in nine days in Pristina, Mr Lajcak said he is trying to give solutions to the car license issue that would avoid any possibility of straining the situation.

“We are in the process of discussing this, and this is in the hands of the prime minister and the Kosovo government to make a decision. We are trying to help, and as we have said our concerns are not to have tensions and violence on the ground that is important because I think it is not in the interest of Kosovo especially at this important time where very important processes are under way, discussions on visa liberalisation, discussions on membership in the Council of Europe, so the last thing Kosovo needs would be violence here on the ground”, he said.

This year's summer tensions between Kosovo and Serbia over the use of identification documents and car license plates prompted a stronger diplomatic response to avoid clashes in a period of significant political developments in Europe due to Russian aggression in Ukraine.

On August 27th, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on free movement of citizens, while the October 31st deadline for converting car plates for Serbian citizens using license plates issued by Serbia. With government decision, users of these plates must return to Kosovo Republic RKS, but this is rejected by Belgrade.

The US envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, has said that, along with European diplomats, he has asked Kosovo institutions to extend the conversion deadline for ten months and are already waiting for the response.

The Kosovo government has said it understands its concerns, but it has reported obligation towards rule of law, constitutionality and its decisions.

Western diplomats have added pressure on Kosovo and Serbia to find a solution to normalisation agreements and preventing tensions like those in Kosovo's north three months ago. / VOA