Vucic: France and Germany demanded to solve the problem of Kosovo during the "war in Europe"
Europe is seriously afraid of the emergence of a new hotbed of military confrontation in the Balkans. Here, for the second month, tensions remain between Serbia and the Republic of Kosovo, unrecognized by Belgrade, due to attempts by Pristina to restrict border crossings according to Serbian documents. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in an address to the nation after the Security Council meeting that Germany and France, with the support of the United States and Turkey, demanded that Belgrade "solve the Kosovo problem" as soon as possible.
France and Germany, the largest European countries, with the support of the United States and Turkey, as they said, advocated the need to solve the "Kosovo problem" during the war in Europe
- said the Serbian President.
The day before, an EU delegation consisting of EU Special Representative for the Western Balkans Miroslav Lajcak, adviser to German Chancellor J. Plötner and adviser to French President Emmanuel Bonn held talks with Prime Minister of the unrecognized Kosovo Albin Kurti in Pristina. The purpose of the mission is called "the study of options for moving forward in the dialogue" between Belgrade and Pristina. After negotiations with Kurti, the MEPs arrived in Belgrade, where they met with the President of Serbia. Vučić said that he had voiced to the missionaries Belgrade's firm position on the non-recognition of the Republic of Kosovo, whose territory, according to the constitution, is part of Serbia.
Even before the trip of the EU representatives, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron sent a joint letter to the President of Serbia, urging him to make "difficult decisions" on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija. The heads of the leading states of the European Union notified Vučić that advisers to German Chancellor Jens Plötner and French President Emmanuel Bonn were sent to assist EU Special Representative for the Western Balkans Miroslav Lajcak.
Pristina's decision to refuse to recognize Serbian documents and license plates for entry into Kosovo was to come into effect on 1 August. This caused mass protests in the Serbian enclave in the north of the unrecognized republic. In response, the Kosovo authorities began to pull police special forces to the area, and Belgrade deployed military units to the border. After the intervention of Washington and EU representatives, the adoption of the restrictive document was postponed until September 1.
As a result of multilateral negotiations with the participation of representatives of the United States and the European Union, the conflict seems to have been resolved, although only partially. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo agreed on the mutual recognition of personal documents issued to their citizens for crossing the border in both directions. At the same time, Pristina announced that from September 1, license plates issued in Serbia will be replaced by Kosovo ones with the abbreviation RKS - Republic of Kosovo, which takes two months.
At the same time, the West continues to put pressure on the President of Serbia to recognize the independence of Kosovo. Vučić categorically refuses to do so, stating that the agreement reached "cannot be regarded as recognition of Kosovo's independence and does not predetermine the status of Kosovo." Judging by the Serbian leader's speech to the citizens, another attempt by EU representatives to force Vučić to change this position was not successful.
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