Kosovo Serbia Agreement 2019
What Belgrade and Pristina have aimed at is not so much an agreement as a set of principles that must be developed before they can be implemented, and the development can be as contested as the agreement itself. The second point is this: Berat Rukiqi, President of the Economic Chamber of Kosovo, said that the main cause of several economic disputes was the „non-recognition of certificates and license plates issued by Kosovo“ in Serbia, despite previous agreements in Brussels. On October 4, 2019, Donald Trump appointed Richard Grenell as the president`s special envoy for the peace talks between Serbia and Kosovo. [3] After months of diplomatic talks on 20 January 2020, Grenell facilitated negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo, during which the two nations agreed to re-establish flights between their capitals for the first time in more than two decades. [4] On 27 June 2020, a peace summit was agreed between the two sides in Washington D.C. but cancelled due to the possible charge against Hashim Thai for war crimes. [6] [1] „Unfortunately, one of the points of the draft agreement on Ujman has complicated the situation. We do not appreciate Serbia participating in Ujman`s future. …
The impact this may have in the future could be costly in Kosovo,“ Haradinaj wrote on Facebook. The additional speed and strength were attributed to the talks when President Trump appointed Grenell his envoy for dialogue in October 2019. In addition, the agreement also risks alienating China, which President Xi Jinping described a few months ago by his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic as „brother“ and saviour of Serbia, while fraternal relations between two peoples were celebrated at rallies of the ruling Serbian Party (Serbia`s Progress Party). In the meantime, signing an agreement is only the first step on the road to reconciliation, because each agreement must then be implemented – and implemented. There are several clauses of the agreement that have absolutely nothing to do with the normalization of economic relations between Kosovo and Serbia, and therefore ridiculously included. These are the clauses under which the two countries have agreed to cooperate with the 69 countries that criminalize homosexuality „to push for decriminalization“; pledged to characterize Hezbollah „in its entirety“ as a terrorist organization and to fully implement the necessary measures to limit Hezbollah`s legal operations and financial activities; and finally the clause in which Kosovo and Israel agreed to recognize each other and Serbia agreed to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by 1 July 2021.
