In the dispute over car number plates, the two countries have agreed on a compromise in Brussels.
Agreement reached: Serbia is no longer allowed to issue number plates with reference to Kosovo.
(dpa) Negotiators have reached a compromise in the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo over the use of illegal Serbian car number plates. “We have a deal!” wrote EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Twitter on Wednesday evening following EU-organized talks in Brussels. Under EU supervision, the chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia had agreed on measures to avoid further escalation.
Serbia will stop issuing license plates with Kosovo Cities’ denominations & Kosovo will cease further actions related to re-registration of vehicles.
I will invite the parties in the coming days to discuss next steps
I thank EUSR @Miroslav Lajcak & the parties for the hard work.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 23, 2022
According to Borrell, Serbia will stop issuing license plates referring to Kosovar cities and Kosovo will not take any further measures related to the re-registration of vehicles with old Serbian license plates. Borrell will invite the parties over the next few days to discuss next steps.
The government of Kosovo had recently postponed planned fines for using illegal Serbian license plates. Almost all ethnic Serbs in a compact Serb settlement area in northern Kosovo use Serbian-issued number plates, although these are no longer valid as of November 1st. They are supported in their refusal by the Serbian government, which has not recognized Kosovo’s independence since 2008. The Balkan country, whose territory once belonged to Serbia, is now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians.
The conflict over license plates has fueled tensions between Belgrade and Pristina. At the beginning of the month, almost all Serb officials in the Kosovan police force resigned in protest against the regulation.