Serbia under Western pressure to reach deal on Kosovo, Vucic says

SManalysis

Serbian president says Belgrade could face international isolation if it rejects a Western plan to normalise ties with Pristina.

Al Jazzeera

Published On 24 Jan 2023

24 Jan 2023

Serbia has been given an ultimatum from powerful Western nations to normalise ties with Kosovo or face measures that would do “great damage” to the country, the president has said.

On Monday evening, President Aleksandar Vucic said he had been presented with a proposal, as part of a Western push to solve long-simmering tensions with Kosovo, during a meeting last week with representatives of the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States.

“[They] said – you must accept this plan, or you will face the interruption of the process of European integration, the halting and withdrawal of investments and comprehensive economic and political measures that will cause great damage to the Republic of Serbia,” Vucic said.

Speaking during a televised press conference, Vucic said Serbia’s parliament would have to discuss the proposal, and hinted at a possible referendum. He underlined that without the EU, Serbia would become “isolated”.

The new Western plan for normalising Serbia-Kosovo relations has not been officially made public. Vucic said in his televised address that the plan stipulates that Serbia would not object to Kosovo’s membership in international organisations, including the United Nations.

The US and EU want to push forward an EU-mediated dialogue that has been stalled for months because they fear Russia, a Serbia ally, could try to stir instability in the Balkans to divert attention from the war in Ukraine.

AD

“These talks were among the toughest in the past decade,” Vucic added, describing the meeting. “It was never like this.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that the meetings in Kosovo and Serbia had focused on “discussions on the proposal on normalisation of relations. We stressed that advancing on this proposal would bring considerable benefits for both sides”.

Serbia has been a candidate to join the EU for more than a decade, and normalising ties with Kosovo has been a key condition to advance its application.

“Serbia must remain on its EU path … because we would be lost without it, economically and politically. If we were to be alone and isolated, that is not something I would accept as a president,” Vucic said.