Association is knocking on doors, internationals want agreement implementation this year

After receiving EU punishment and then agreeing with the European bloc for a plan to intensify the situation in the north, Kosovo is urged quick implementation of the agreement on the road towards normalising relations with Serbia. Serbia is asked the same. As EU emissary Miroslav Lajcak had said, it is no secret that internationals want implementation this year. They want to send Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq back to the negotiating table very soon. Formation of association is considered the crucial issue Kosovo must implement.

Kosovo and Serbia will have to implement a finalised agreement in March, which the international community considered historic. Although only about two months from that meeting in Ohrid, where Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Aleksandar Vuciq agreed on the road towards normalisation of relations, tensions in Kosovo's north escalated to violence, internationals want to bring the two leaders back to the dialogue table as soon as possible.

The European Union and the United States of America found Kurt guilty of straining the situation in the four northern municipalities after the new Albanian mayors there entered the municipal facilities with police assistance. The EU punished Kosovo for later agreeing with it on a plan for expansion.

The Kosovo government will have to withdraw from recent actions in the country's north and organise new elections in that part. And then, return immediately to dialogue with Serbia.

Just three days after the finalisation of the Kosovo-Serbia agreement, EU emissary Miroslav Lajcak has said it is not a secret that they want its implementation to take place this year. Asked in an interview on Radio Free Europe whether to expect implementation of the agreement this year, because next year there will be elections and other important issues, Lajcak replied: “Srirsch, we had planned many concrete deadlines in the original document. Now, we don't want the parties to impose deadlines. We have to agree on this when we meet. But this isn't secret”

France's Ambassador to Kosovo Olivier Guérot said Saturday in an interview for Express that “should organise new high-level meetings”, encouraging parties to take a constructive approach to achieve implementation of this agreement as soon as possible”.

“at this stage, a new summit between the EU, Kosovo and Serbia should be organised at the beginning of the school year, but belongs to European facilitator, Mr. Lajcak, assess the proper pace of the talks. We have full confidence in him”, Ambassador Guérot said.

Urgently to implement the agreement requires the US. American Ambassador to Pristina. Jeffrey Houvenier said on Tuesday that forming the Association of Serb majority municipalities should also be done soon.

“From the Government of Kosovo we demand that steps be taken to expand the situation in the north and create a new environment where both states can work on implementing all commitments under the Ohrid Agreement. For Kosovo, this means moving forward with an emergency in the process of negotiating and establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities. This is part of pledges made by the Kosovo government. This is not the only obligation it has, and this is not the only article of the Ohrid Agreement, but it is important”, Havenier said during a media address.

On July 18th, Kosovo was the main topic of discussion at the Capitol Hill, where the United States' special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, reported on the situation in the region. He spoke of the need to implement the recent agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which according to him is the way the new Balkan state will lead to international organisations. The American diplomat said the highest US aspirations in the region are for Kosovo to become a member of NATO, the European Union and to ensure a seat in the UN. In this direction, he said that forming association is “a key element”.

The accord urges Serbia to recognise Kosovo's sovereignty and its territorial integrity. Turkey recognises national symbols, the flag, government documents, diplomas, car license plates and prohibits Serbia from blocking Kosovo's membership in international organisations. Kosovo is required to implement its mandate to form the Association of Serb-run municipalities. We believe that both countries should be engaged immediately in these aspects, without preconditions. They must start doing their part”, Escobar said.

This agreement, Escobar said it has offered the US “the greatest opportunity in the past 15 years” to co-operate with the Government of Kosovo to launch “not just a European recognition campaign, but a global recognition campaign”.

But on this issue, Escobar said he sees the Government of Kosovo lined up side by side of the US. For how to move towards full international recognition, he said that “so far I have not taken that pledge from the Kosovo government”.

But in an interview for the Croatian newspaper that was published on July 24th, Kurti gave strong words about implementing association when the journalist reminded him that there is an association forming with the question “

“Noni 7 speaks of the aloneing of the Serb community, which is linked to Article 10, which says all previous agreements, which are valid and binding, should be fully implemented” he said. /Express