EU expects Kosovo, Serbia to accept proposal Monday without discussion

That is what a senior European official has said, speaking to reporters in Brussels on condition of anonymity.

The “will be the sixth consecutive meeting between Prime Minister Kurti and President Vuciq. But it's going to be a more important meeting so far because the last meetings were more about crisis management than about normalizing the reports. Now the focus is on the European proposal”, this official said.

We expect leaders to approve the proposal. We don't want to discuss his proposal and content because they know that since September. There is no room to agree on one part, not the other. But we're open to discuss implementation modes”, this official has declared.

He has said he expects the most difficult discussions to be those for the establishment of the Association of Serb majority municipalities. He has added, among other things, that Kosovo must unconditionally implement this obligation and that “the acceptance of this proposal would also imply accepting the implementation of the obligation to create association”.

Even in the EU, they consider this agreement to be a kind of de-facto recognition of Kosovo. And, this is really a de-phacto” recognition, this EU source has said.

EU sources have clarified that since the summer the proposal for the “basic agreement has been put forward to “. The contents of this proposal have been discussed several times, and this is the first time that at the meeting the two leaders will be able to talk about it among themselves.

We need to stop the crisis cycle. We had six strokes in the last few days. At the time of the barricades in northern Kosovo, we were very close to fire. Now it's time to interrupt this and have a new dynamic in their reports”, this official said.

Kurt and Vuchy have basically accepted this proposal.

Its content has not been made public, but from a version that the REL has seen, it turns out it does not envision mutual recognition between the two countries, but the commitment of both sides that it will not prevent each other from integrating processes. The proposal also requires that the parties implement all agreements that have so far reached within the dialogue on normalising relations. The U.S. has supported this document.

Speaking of meetings from the past, the EU official has said those meetings “were constructive“, but, as for the vision of the two leaders for the future, it was clear that those visions were not compatible at all.

The same source has said that this proposal is not for the comprehensive final agreement, but only one stage towards it.

This proposal is not the end of the road, but it is the maximum one that can be achieved right now. The atmosphere in Kosovo and Serbia does not help Kurti and Vuciqi to accept the agreement. But it has strong support from EU leaders and all member states. Therefore, it will also have a major impact on improving the lives of citizens, ensuring freedom of movement in the region, will bring economic opportunities and will make it much easier to identify documents”, this senior EU official stressed.

“We are talking very openly with the parties about implementation. They know where the jam is. We're monitoring and reporting implementation. Reports to member states are under chapter 35 for Serbia and on the Committee for normalisation with Kosovo. This time the reporting will be more regular and will directly connect to their roads towards the EU. Dialogue should not be viewed as separate from other Kosovo and Serbia reports with the EU”, he has said, adding that he expects the five EU nations that have not recognised Kosovo to respond positively:

We know that the five countries are carefully following the dialogue. We have some expectations, and we wanted to prepare them. It would be logical to have positive reactions too, but now we cannot say exactly what those reactions will be”.

One of the reasons the EU wants the normalisation of reports between Kosovo and Serbia as soon as possible is the reduction of space for Russia to destabilise the region.

“Shouldn't be allowed Russia to destabilise the Western Balkan region. We must testify that the EU is able to keep the region in its bay. We've been neglecting the region for too long. The atmosphere in the region is very difficult, reports between Kosovo and Serbia are tense and there are many problems about non-recognition of documents. That even hinders co-operation in the region”, the EU official has said.

Asked about Russia's stance, he has said Moscow's efforts to undermine this agreement are seen:

This is a European proposal supported by all 27 member states. Russia has made some reactions, through its ambassador to Belgrade, demanding that the proposal be rejected and that this be postponed until a new global order is created. We see this as a threat to President Vuciq not to accept the proposal. So far we have not seen that it had an impact on Vuciqi, but it has had on a part of the opposition in Serbia”.

On Monday, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Joseph Borrell will initially have bilateral meetings with separate leaders, and then a joint meeting. In the EU, they say they do not expect this meeting to be for crises, but for agreements.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on February 23rd that the European proposal is not the product of negotiation. According to him, Kosovo allies have designed the European proposal as a package that will advance Kosovo's membership in the international system.