Vuciq: Association creation, precondition for returning Serbs to institutions

Presenting the meeting's five conclusions, Vuciq said the association should be formed “automatically in line with agreements reached in Brussels”.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached two agreements for Association, in 2013 and 2015. The latest agreement, Kosovo's Constitutional Court, has said it is not in full harmony with the highest judicial act of the state, but can be harmonised with legal acts.

Vuciq said association is the precondition for further steps in dialogue as well as the precondition for returning Serbs to institutions.

According to the consensus read at the end of the meeting with representatives of Kosovo Serbs, the urgent response of the European Union and other institutions in the world will be required that institutions in Pristina “immediately interrupt violating the agreement on license plates and enable the unhindered movement of Serbs, whose vehicles exploit the legitimate license of the Republic of Serbia”.

We do not ask for anything more than Pristina, without delay, to act in line with agreements in dialogue, as well as with all other relevant international law documents. In this sense, the Serbian negotiating team authorises that, in line with the rights that have been guaranteed to the Serbian side in the amount of agreements for the plates, make additional efforts to find a compromise solution to the issue”, Vuciq stressed.

In 2022, tensions rose in Kosovo's north due to a government decision in Pristina that all cars with Serbian illegal license plates be reregistered at the Kosovo Republic of Kosovo license plate. Tensions dropped after the parties reached an agreement in Brussels, through which Pristina gave up punitive measures leading up to the decision on the plates, while Belgrade gave up launching new license plates for vehicles running north of Kosovo.

One of the conclusions reached in Rashka also requires the withdrawal of Kosovo Police Special Units from the north, inhabited by Serb majority. The consensus also says Serbia has not participated in the decision not to participate in the April 23rd elections in Kosovo, but that it does not want to go against that decision.

It is added that elections will be required after the formation of Association.

The last point of the conclusion is that Serbia will take all <x0 judicial, political and economic measures” to ensure the protection and rights of Serbs in Kosovo.

These conflicts, according to Vucinqi, will be approved by the Serbian government, and institutions will be obliged to respect them.

Economic selection for Serbs in Kosovo

During the meeting in Rashka, located in southern Serbia, Vuciq announced helpful measures for the Serb community in Kosovo, which he said would be financed by the Serbian budget.

The overall value of economic incentives was said to be 28m euros and will be financed by Serbia's budget.

The total “is 28m euros, besides everything we've decided so far and these financial resources are at your disposal immediately. These are things of vital importance and will protect our people in Kosovo”, Vuciq said.

Serbian Prime Minister Anna Brnabiq and other Serbian ministers attended this meeting, which was open to the public.

Milan Radociq, deputy head of the Serbian List, who is under sanctions from the United States of America and Great Britain because of allegations of corruption and organised crime, also participated in the meeting with Serbia's president. He is also wanted by Kosovo for allegations that he is involved in intimidation of witnesses in the trial case, known as “Brezovica”.

Earlier, the Serbian president had declared that the outcome of the meeting would be a <x0-platform joint” on local elections to be held on April 23rd in northern Kosovo, but also the next “events”.

What did Vuciq say at the beginning of the meeting?
At the start of the meeting in Rashka, Vuciq said Serbs in Kosovo are “worried and afraid”, which he accused of accusing the Government of Kosovo, led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

We know they're not cowards. But, we are trying to be constructive in order to preserve peace”, Vuciq said, expressing his view of the situation in northern Kosovo.

The Kurti is committed every day to ugly things, incidents. But it is not an incident when shooting at the man to kill”, Vuciq said, referring to the wound of a Serb community member in northern Kosovo by Kosovo Police on April 10th.

Initially, Kosovo police had denied involvement in the event, but later announced that they have suspended and arrested four police officials, one of whom is believed to have fired a Serb citizen.

Call for “unity” before local elections

Speaking of local elections in northern Kosovo, scheduled for April 23rd, Vucic also cited the Serb List's non-participation in this election.

He called on citizens in Kosovo to be united and to act according to decisions to be made.

“ [Kosovo Prime Minister Albin] Kurti will be chairman of North Mitrovica”, he said.

The election decision in the municipalities in the north HINA northern Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Leposaviq has been taken after the mayors of these municipalities, along with other Serbs, last November 5th of last year resigned, in sign of opposition to the Kosovo Government's decision to launch the process of reregistering Serbian illegal plates.

The Serbian list, the largest Serb party in Kosovo, has not applied to participate in elections in the north. The European Union and the QUINT group countries United States, Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany have expressed regret why the Serbian List has not used the right to participate in the elections.

In the Race, located on the border with Kosovo, Vuciq said that Kosovo is interested in Serbia knowing it de facto and de jure, and that “a are not interested in when the “Association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo will be established.

Regarding plates issued by Serbian authorities for vehicles in Kosovo, Vucic said the Serbian side, on 12 April, has forwarded to Brussels “the latest proposal, which is more than a” compromise.

“If they do not accept it, we will implement measures that will be significant and serious responses to the side that uses its own force and distress device, above all in northern Kosovo”, Vuciq said.

Kosovo considers that plates issued by Serbian authorities are illegal. Most such plates are in northern Kosovo. For this dispute, among other things, Belgrade and Pristina are negotiating in Brussels with the ease of the European Union.

Representatives of Serbia and Kosovo reached agreement in Ohrid, which includes “mutual recognition of registration signs”, but reregistering Serbian license plates on Kosovo license plates is blocked.