Thewesternbalkans
The full implementation of the Ohrid Agreement reached last year, is now an official part of the Chapter 35 for Serbia in the negotiations for its EU membership. This change of Chapter 35 was made by the foreign ministers of the member countries of the EU during a meeting held in Luxembourg o April 22.
In the new text of the negotiating framework, it is emphasized that “Serbia fully implements the obligations arising from the Agreement on the way to the normalization of relations with Kosovo, according to the Annex of its implementation, as agreed on March 18, 2023”. The Council of Ministers said that “the Kosovo and Serbia have agreed that their respective obligations arising from the Agreement become an integral part of their paths towards European integration”.
According to the Ohrid Agreement, Kosovo and Serbia shall develop normal, good-neighbourly relations with each other on the basis of equal rights and mutually recognise their respective documents and national symbols, including passports, diplomas, license plates, and customs stamps. Among the provisions of the agreement is that Serbia will not object to Kosovo’s membership in any international organization.
Comment: The decision to include the Ohrid Agreement on the path to normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, in negotiating Chapter 35 was defined by the Ohrid Agreement itself. It was supposed to be fully implemented immediately after the acceptance of the Agreement, which happened last year on March 18.
However, key provisions of the agreement are not implemented by both parties. On October 27 of last year, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked Kosovo to start the procedure for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority, while Serbia to recognize the de-facto citizenship of Kosovo. But during this period, Belgrade – Prishtina relations became tense, especially in the north of the country with the departure of Serbs from institutions, which culminated in the September 24 attack in Banjska, when a group of Serbs killed a Kosovo policeman.
The northern Serbs in four municipalities, also boycotted the referendum on April 21, to remove the Albanian mayors from office. The organization of this referendum was also a condition of the EU for official Pristina to deescalate the situation in the north. Kosovo was punished with the imposition of measures by the EU for its uncoordinated actions earlier.
Belgrade has also lobbied intensively to keep Prishtina out of international organizations and with Kosovo edging closer to membership in the Council of Europe, President Aleksandar Vučić has hinted at the possibility for his country to withdraw from the organization if Kosovo gains membership.
