Cholls: Kosovo, Serbia to implement torrential agreements

US State Department adviser Derek Chollet said Kosovo and Serbia should implement the agreements that have been reached in the European Union-brokered talks, and it is time to discuss the association of Serb majority municipalities.

He made these comments after a conversation with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on the eve of a meeting scheduled for Monday with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels.

The United States supports a constructive meeting confirming the commitment of both sides to the European Union's” proposal, Chollet wrote.

Prime Minister Kurti wrote that he has confirmed Mr. Chollet his position on the European proposal “as the basis for further talks towards normalising Kosovo relations Serbia. Full normalisation requires mutual recognition at the centre of the agreement and respect for minority rights in both countries, he wrote.

The leaders of Kosovo and Serbia have already accepted in principle the European proposal, which does not envision mutual recognition between the two countries, but the commitment of the parties that they will not prevent each other from integration processes.

The United States and the European Union said they expect them to officially and publicly accept the proposal at Monday's meeting.

European Union officials said the proposal would not be negotiated, and on Monday the parties would discuss implementing the plan, which is supported by all member states of the bloc, including those that do not recognise Kosovo.

A senior European official said that accepting the proposal also implies accepting the Association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo, which is the most controversial issue in the to-do agreements. He said the proposal also represents Kosovo's de facto” “recognition from Serbia.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Saturday during the meeting of his party's General Council -- the Vetevendosje movement -- that Kosovo has shown committed to the negotiation process.

The “Dialogue in Brussels is the dialogue for normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia, is the dialogue on the status of relations, the current status of relations is not normal and normal status is that of good neighbourlyity. So mutual recognition as core and reciprocity as principle”, Prime Minister Kurti said.

But Democratic Party of Kosovo chairman Memli Krasniqi through social networks criticised the government's approach to dialogue and that according to him, February 27th will mark the beginning of a new phase of the dialogue process, where mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia will no longer be a topic of discussion.

Despite Monday's meeting, the government, already publicly, has accepted the plan proposed by the European Union. However, from what has been seen so far, the plan itself contains almost no concrete benefit for Kosovo. It is not about recognition by the five non-recognitional EU nations, it is not about opening the road towards NATO membership, nor about obtaining candidate status for EU membership, while mutual recognition is out of the question”, Mr Krasniqi wrote, underlining that Monday's meeting is a meeting for association, not recognition.

Part of the opposition in Serbia, meanwhile, states that the proposal implies recognition of Kosovo by accusing Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic of failing in the process, which has already stressed that Kosovo's non-recognition and disagreement with its membership in the United Nations are unequivocal issues for Belgrade.

Western diplomats have let both sides know that rejection of the proposal implies dealing with sanctions. / VOA