The Serbian and Kosovar authorities should henceforth recognize each other’s identity cards. Serbia and Kosovo concluded, on Saturday 27 August, “an agreement on freedom of movement” between the two countries, after the renewed tensions caused by new border and administrative rules imposed by Pristina, announced the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
This agreement does not, however, resolve the issue of car registration plates for Kosovo Serbs, whose change to Kosovar plates demanded by Pristina had provoked a new outburst of violence in July.
Following negotiations led by the European Union (EU), Pristina agrees not to introduce into the 1er September, as was his intention, residence permits for people entering Kosovo with a Serbian identity card, Borrell explained on Twitterensuring to have “received guarantees” from Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.
In exchange, the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, agreed to abolish the residence permit that Belgrade imposed on visitors holding a Kosovar identity card to enter Serbia.
“Ensuring peace and stability on the territory of Kosovo”
Mr. Borrell’s announcement was immediately welcomed by the head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic. With this agreement, “we managed to ensure peace and stability on the territory of Kosovo and to preserve Serbian identity cards for Serbs” living in Kosovo “and therefore also the presence of the State of Serbia in this territory”Mr. Petkovic said in a communicated.
Belgrade has never recognized the independence proclaimed by its former Albanian-majority province in 2008, a decade after a bloody war that left 13,000 people dead, mostly Kosovar Albanians.
Since then, the region has been the scene of episodic frictions. The approximately 120,000 Kosovo Serbs, a third of whom live in the north of the territory, do not recognize the authority of Pristina, remaining loyal to Belgrade.
In Pristina, the Kosovar Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, welcomed the conclusion of an agreement on the basis of “reciprocity”. “Standardization solutions must include reciprocity, because good neighborly relations require it”he wrote on Facebook.
To accept this compromise, Serbia demanded that an explanatory notice be posted at the border crossings, which Belgrade describes as “administrative passages”. The text of this notice will state that this measure has been decided “only for practical reasons” and that she “cannot not be construed as recognition of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo”according to Petkovic.
The problem of the plates is not solved
On the other hand, no compromise was found on Saturday concerning the Kosovo measure on license plates, regretted Josep Borrell. In addition to the residence permit imposed at its borders, Pristina had also decided in July to require Kosovo Serbs to replace the Serbian license plates of their vehicles with Republic of Kosovo plates.
When the measures were announced, the Serbs in northern Kosovo erected barricades near the border crossings and blocked traffic. Under pressure from the United States, Pristina postponed their implementation until 1er september.
“The work is not finished, some issues are still pending. I expect the two leaders to continue to show pragmatism and a constructive spirit in order to solve the problem of the plates”said Josep Borrell.
In the absence of an agreement on license plates, the Kosovo Serbs will have, from 1er September, a period of two months to replace their plates, according to the decision of Pristina.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, however, remains pessimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement on this dossier. Speaking at a press conference on Saturday morning, he explained that the dispute over identity cards was only a “less problem” and that of the plates was “much more complicated”. “The crisis continues anyway, it is getting worse”he warned.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization warned in mid-August that its peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) was “ready to intervene if stability is threatened” and to reinforce its workforce if necessary, to “restore freedom of movement” in the event of blockages and new violence.