The EU officially conditions Serbia’s integration on normalizing relations with Kosovo.

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The EU officially conditions Serbia’s integration on normalizing relations with KosoThe Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) has today approved the final decision to change the negotiating framework for Serbia’s accession, conditioning its acceptance on normalizing relations with its neighbor, Kosovo.

This change concerns Chapter 35 of the negotiating framework, in which the implementation of the Agreement on the road to normalizing relations with Kosovo now becomes a formal condition for Serbia in the accession negotiation process.

In the new text of the negotiating framework, the following sentence is established as a condition: “Serbia fully implements the obligations arising from the Agreement on the road to normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia, as agreed on March 18, 2023.”

On February 27, 2023, in Brussels, Kosovo and Serbia reached the Basic Agreement, and on March 18 in Ohër, agreement was reached on the Implementation Annex of the agreement.

The European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), which had also proposed these changes, welcomed the decision of the Council of Ministers to approve them, according to the EU spokesperson, Peter Stano.

“Both parties had accepted their respective obligations, that the Agreement on normalization would become an integral part of their European integration path. The implementation of the Annex reached in March 2023 reflects this obligation of both parties,” said Stano.

Stano confirmed that Kosovo will also have such a obligation formalized through a “special normalization group.”

“The agenda of the upcoming meeting of the special normalization group for Kosovo will also be updated. We expect both parties to implement the Agreement and all other remaining obligations from the dialogue, as this is key to their respective European path,” he added.

Ambassadors of EU member states had reached agreement on these changes last week.

This change had been requested to include the obligation to implement the agreement from the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo as a condition within Chapter 35 of the accession negotiations since the agreement was reached a year ago.

Progress in the normalization process of relations with Kosovo had previously been part of the conditions in Belgrade’s EU accession negotiations, but now specifically mentions the condition of implementing the agreement reached last year.

This agreement, consisting of 11 items, among other things, provides for a level of self-governance for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, while requiring Pristina and Belgrade to implement all previous agreements reached during the dialogue.

The EU insists that the agreement and its annex, despite not being signed by the parties, are legal obligations for both countries.

Serbia, through its officials, has repeatedly stated that it will not implement parts of the agreement related to territorial integrity and Kosovo’s acceptance into international organizations.

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