Brussels, 24/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Serbia and Kosovo reached agreement on cooperation and Kosovo's participation in regional meetings on Friday 24 February after two and a half days of discussions conducted under the auspices of the European Union. The agreement will allow Kosovo to take part in and to sign new agreements and to speak for itself in all regional meetings, when, hitherto, agreements were signed by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on its behalf. The two sides also reached agreement on the name to be used by Kosovo, with or without reference to its independence. Under the terms of the agreement, “Kosovo*” will be the name used and a reference at the foot of the page will state: “This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.”
The two also agreed a technical protocol on implementing the agreement on the integrated management for crossing points of 2 December 2011. This will allow the parties to begin discussions on the practical issues, such as budget, design and location of these facilities. During the dialogue, the two sides also acknowledged that progress had been made in implementing previous agreements and pledged to make swift progress in this process.
EU hails agreements. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle have welcomed the agreements. “These agreements are a major step forward. They are important not just for Serbia and Kosovo but for the stability of the region and thus for the EU”, they said.
This is important for Kosovo because “it makes Kosovo a full participant in its own right in regional meetings and events and will allow for further progress to contractual relations with the EU”, said Ashton and Füle. They went on: “In this light, the Commission proposes to launch a feasibility study for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Kosovo and the EU”. For Serbia, “these agreements on regional cooperation and IBM are particularly welcome in view of the deliberations in the Council next week regarding candidate status for Serbia”, they pointed out.
“We are very happy with the agreement”, said Serbian negotiator Borislav Stefanovic. “We welcome it with relief, but the talks were really very tough”, he added.
Progress on the ground. On Thursday, Serbs in the north of Kosovo announced the re-opening of two border crossings with Serbia, which have been blocked by barricades since July. According to one of their leaders, the barricades have been dismantled without incident. These re-openings were among the conditions set by the EU if Serbia was to be granted candidate status for accession to the EU.
Important agreement for candidate status. The progress made here is crucial to the decision, due to be taken by the General Affairs Council on Tuesday 28 February and then the European Council on 1-2 March, on whether Serbia should be granted candidate status to the EU. At December's European Council, the member states demanded progress in the dialogue with Pristina, cooperation with Eulex and Kfor and implementation of agreements already concluded. “It is now up to the EU and the member states to take the decision (on candidate status) in the light of the European Commission's conclusions”, Stefanovic said. (CG/transl.rt)