European Document: Serbia must recognise Kosovo before EU membership

While all public attention is currently focused on the European agreement and Kosovo's possible admission to the United Nations, European diplomats say that “mutual recognition” is implied when Serbia is close to membership in the European Union.

Even if Serbia now avoids Kosovo's admission to the UN, interpreted as informal recognition of Kosovo, after several years it is expected to do so officially.

The sentence that travels almost invisibly through the text of the document, which stems from the offices of European diplomats working in implementing the European Agreement, is that mutual recognition of Serbia and Kosovo will occur with their entry into the European Union, writes Serbian portal Nova.

In the part where the European proposal for Kosovo compares to the two Germanys model, it says:

The Federal Republic of Germany has never recognised the German Democratic Republic and vice versa. However, the 1972 Constitutional Treaty enabled the two Germanys to accept the reality of the other's existence. This also enabled Western countries to develop relations with the GDR. If Serbia and Kosovo continue with their determination to join the European Union, full normalisation will soon take place through mutual recognition. For now, co-existence through co-operation and peaceful relations, regardless of differences, is the only thing the international community wants from Serbia and Kosovo”.