Escobar: Implementation of Ohrid Agreement Must Start With Association

“The EU and the US are focused on making this [stolen in Ohrid] agreement a reality. This reality is about Association. Normalisation is focused on minority rights, especially Serbs. It is our expectation and request to move forward with this”, Escobar said.

He added that work on establishing association has begun, but that “should delay
Constantly forward until we reach a” model. On the other hand, he said that

These comments by Escobar come a day after the meeting in Brussels between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, along with European mediators Miroslav Lajcak and Josep Borrell.

During this meeting, the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia expressed opposing stances about establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo, but agreed on the Declaration of War-deprived.

The declaration envisions several commitments to the parties, which could lead to the dawning of the fate of over 1,600 people who continue to remain missing from the 1998/99 war.

While, draft status for forming the Association, introduced by the management team of four members of the Serb community, was rejected by Kurti.

The Kosovo leader said that “clearly there is a desire for a Republika Srpska in Kosovo, and that wish has written this statute”, while proposing a draft-vision of it.

Vuciq, on the other hand, said Kosovo “will either accept what it agreed on in 2015, or it will be the end of all”.

EU foreign policy chief Borrell said he had expected to have different positions on the two sides for the nature of association, but added that with the presentation of the draft status state on the table, Kosovo and Serbia “took a symbolic step of” towards its establishment.

He said the meeting also discussed the situation on the ground, especially in northern Kosovo, where the majority population is Serb.