Serbia, Kosovo Need to Move on Mending Ties, EU Chief Says

Gresa Kraja and Jasmina Kuzmanovic
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Serbia and Kosovo must move decisively toward normalizing relations in order to join the European Union, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in some of the strongest comments yet from a top EU official.

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Serbia must deliver on a “de-facto” recognition of Kosovo, while Kosovo should implement a plan to offer ethnic Serbs a degree of autonomy, the head of the EU’s executive arm said on a trip through the Balkan region on Monday.

“We all know we can achieve all these steps forward and successes if Kosovo and Serbia normalize their relations,” von der Leyen told reporters in Pristina alongside Kosovo’s president, Vjosa Osmani. “It is absolutely crucial for both to engage, to cooperate.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti were told to dial back mounting tensions and press ahead with talks in a meeting in Brussels with European leaders on Thursday. But the highest-level exchange between Balkan leaders and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni failed to produce a breakthrough.

Read more: Serbia, Kosovo Get Blunt Message From EU to End Tension

Kosovo, populated mostly by ethnic Albanians, unilaterally seceded from Serbia in 2008, a decade after a brutal Serbian offensive that was ended by NATO strikes against Serbian targets. Serbia has refused to recognize an independent Kosovo, which it regards as the historic cradle of the Orthodox nation.

A breakthrough has eluded EU and US diplomats, who have struggled to push forward a plan regarding treatment of Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs, who constitute a majority in the country’s north.

Von der Leyen, on a Balkan tour through Wednesday, said she’ll also discuss Serbia’s de-facto recognition of Kosovo with Vucic. She said the EU is looking into potentially lifting measures against Kosovo that were imposed in June.

A looming issue over diplomatic efforts has been the fate of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo, whose leaders have been supported by the government in Belgrade.

Von der Leyen offered the promise of opening EU markets to Kosovo, citing the country’s income of some 27% of the bloc’s average.

“There’s a lot of untapped potential,” von der Leyen said. “We shall try to double your economy within a decade.”

--With assistance from Misha Savic.

(Adds von der Leyen comment and background from third paragraph.)

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