“The Agreement and the Ohrid annex are legally binding”, EU responds to Serbia

But, the EU, in response to media questions, has indicated that the agreement as a whole remains legally binding, and that the parties agreed to it in Ohrid.

That is what EU spokesman for foreign policy and security Peter Stano said on Friday.

The European Union reiterates that the agreement is legally binding, as a whole, for both sides: Its implementation will be an integral part of the respective European route”, Stano has said.

According to him, the Agreement and annex for implementation “have legally become binding through the written communiqué of the EU high representative [Josep Borrell], on March 18, 2023”.

This has been the EU's constant stance, which has been publicly communicated in some cases”, Stano has said.

EU sources have clarified that assessments of the binding nature of the agreement are in line with Article 11 of the Vienna Convention for the Law on Treatys, which says that “the reconciliation of a state to be obliged to an agreement can be expressed by signature, exchange of instruments making up agreements, ratification, accession, approval, or any other means, if that is how they reconcile”.

The same sources have said that the parties in Ohrid were clearly clarified this way of granting consent, and both sides have agreed and have not disputed, in the presence of the high representative, Borrell, and the envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak.

EU representatives have said they had proposed several other ways to express the sides' consent to the agreement, but they were rejected and continue to be rejected by both sides.

In Serbia's stance, through which Belgrade has expressed reservations for the Declaration of the EU-Western Balkans Summit, which has seen Radio Free Europe, it is said that, “in general, with reservations, matches the Declaration of the EU-Western Balkans Summit” as a political statement and no legal warrant.

Furthermore, it becomes clear that this has to do with the part of the obligations to implement the Agreement with Kosovo.

The agreement on the road to normalisation of reports and the implementation Annex, as referred to in this statement, is considered acceptable only in the context in which no de facto or de jure recognition of Kosovo”, said in Serbia's position.

Serbia's “Republic underlines that this adaptation does not include the admission of Kosovo's membership to the United Nations Organisation, the system of UN organisations and agencies, nor the so-called territorial integrity of Kosovo”, is further said in the letter of Serbia, where the declaration is considered legally unobligative, and that it does not bear the burden of the international agreement, according to international law.

Serbia has also indicated that “Kosovo is an integral part of the Republic of Serbia, under international administration, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1244”.

This position of Serbia also questions its acceptance of obligations that come out of the way for the normalisation of its reports and annexes, as they include non-compliance for Kosovo membership in any international organisation, and respect for its territorial integrity.

In the Declaration adopted Wednesday evening in Brussels by EU and Western Balkan leaders calls on Kosovo and Serbia to implement without preconditions and overall this agreement.

“We extend the invitation to both sides to generally implement the Agreement on the road to normalisation of its reports and annexes, as well as all agreements from the past, without any new and no new delay and preconditions”, says in the part dedicated to reports between Kosovo and Serbia. / REL