Vučević: Serbia Ready to Make Compromises with Kosovo…

Serbia is prepared for “agreements and compromises” in talks with Kosovo, said Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević to the AFP agency.

Vučević made this statement a day before Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić are set to meet for a new round of dialogue on normalizing relations, mediated by the European Union.

“We are ready to make agreements and compromises, which means that neither side will be an absolute winner or loser, but that Serbia and the Albanians must be equally satisfied, or better said, equally dissatisfied,” Vučević said.

“Anything else does not and cannot have long-term sustainability,” he added.

The last time Kurti and Vučić met was in Brussels on September 14, 2023, when they discussed the implementation of the Agreement on the Path to Normalizing Relations. However, that meeting did not result in any progress due to the contradictory positions of the parties.

On June 25, Kurti stated to journalists in Pristina that the upcoming meeting in Brussels would discuss the state of this process and the way forward.

He also said that the Agreement on the Path to Normalizing Relations makes it possible to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia “with de facto recognition at its center.”

Kurti accused Serbia of non-implementation and violation of this agreement.

This agreement – reached last year – has not been signed by the parties, but the EU says it is legally binding for Kosovo and Serbia. Kosovo demands that the agreement be signed, but Serbia has so far refused to do so.

The 11-article agreement also envisages a level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols. It requires Pristina and Belgrade to implement all previous agreements reached during the dialogue.

The EU – which has been mediating the dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia since 2011 – has criticized both parties for not implementing the agreement.