Subscribe here: [ Ссылка ] The content of the European proposal for Serbia and Kosovo, finally made public after a joint meeting in Brussels on February 27, is almost entirely identical to earlier drafts that appeared in the media. The backbone of the proposal is based on the model of the agreement between the two Germanies from 1972, thanks to which both countries received wider international recognition and membership in the United Nations.
The long-awaited meeting at the highest level of the representatives of Serbia and Kosovo – Aleksandar Vučić and Albin Kurti – with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajčak, was held in Brussels.
After the meeting, Borrell pointed out that the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo agreed that there is no need for further discussions regarding the European Union’s proposal for an agreement. A new meeting between Aleksandar Vučić and Albin Kurti with Borell should be organized in mid-March when an agreement on the (order of) implementation is expected to be reached.
On the website of the European External Action Service, in the evening hours, after the end of the talks, the European proposal was publicly announced for the first time – although it was known to the public as the Franco-German proposal, by now it has become clear that it was supported by all the member states of the European Union. The official title is the “Agreement on the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia” and contains a preamble and 11 Articles.
Similarity to draft agreements published in the media
Two days after the meeting of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on 20 January in Belgrade with the so-called diplomatic five – representatives of the EU, Germany, France, Italy, and the USA – a draft document was published first in the daily newspaper Danas, and then in other media, claiming to represent a Franco-German proposal for Serbia and Kosovo. The document included a preamble and 10 Articles.
A comparative analysis of the text of the then “leaked” Franco-German proposal and the now publicly available official EU proposal confirms that the two documents are almost completely identical. The content of the eight Articles of the European proposal for an Agreement on the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia corresponds to what was foreseen in the previously available version of the (Franco-German) draft plan.
They include: the readiness of the parties to develop good neighborly relations based on equality and recognize documents and national symbols; they are guided by the principles of the UN Charter (such as the sovereign equality of states, respect for independence, autonomy and territorial integrity, the right to self-determination); resolve disputes peacefully by refraining from the threat of force or the use of force, accept the assumption that none can represent the other in the international sphere (with Serbia’s non-opposition to Kosovo’s membership in international organizations); work on establishing special arrangements for an appropriate level of self-government for the Serbian community in Kosovo and formalize the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo; exchanges of permanent missions in the seats of respective governments; form a joint committee chaired by the EU to monitor the implementation of the agreement and confirm their commitment to the implementation of all previous agreements in the dialogue.
Minor text changes were made in the official version of Articles 5 and 6. Article 5 now explicitly regulates the obligations of Serbia and Kosovo not to block, nor encourage other actors to block the progress of the other party towards the EU, while in the original plan, it was only foreseen that the two parties support aspirations towards membership in the European Union. A similar wording on non-blocking was found in Article 14 of the Brussels Agreement from 2013. As for the next Article, the continuation of the dialogue process until the final legally binding agreement on the comprehensive normalization of relations was elaborated in more detail; as well as deepening cooperation in numerous aspects through additional agreements.
The agreement between the two Germanies as a model for the European proposal
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