Serbia, Kosovo reach deal to end ethnic partition
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BRUSSELS: Serbia and its former province of Kosovo struck an historic deal on Friday to settle their fraught relations, opening the door to European Union (EC) membership talks for Belgrade in a milestone for the region’s recovery from the collapse of Yugoslavia.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the prime ministers of both sides had initialled an agreement during talks in Brussels, capping six months of delicate negotiations after over a decade of deep animosity since Kosovo broke away in war.
“It’s very important that now what we are seeing is a step away from the past and for both of them a step closer to Europe,” Ashton told reporters.
Nato, whose troops help maintain security in Kosovo, hailed an EU-brokered normalisation accord between Belgrade and Pristina and said it stood ready to help implement it.
“I am very happy for Nato to contribute to the conclusion of an historic agreement,” the head of the military alliance Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.
Kosovo Serb deputies in northern Kosovo “demand a referendum in Serbia to
be called in which the citizens will decide whether Kosovo will remain in Serbia or accept the deal that would give it a date to start negotiations with the EU,” said a resolution adopted after the deal was signed in Brussels.
Kosovo’s EU’s integration minister, Vlora Citaku, tweeted: “And the white smoke is out! Habemus pactum! Happy:)))” Serbian officials said the deal remained subject to approval by “state bodies” back in Belgrade. “We will inform the EU by letter on Monday whether we accept the deal or not,” Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic told reporters. EU diplomats said there was very little chance of Serbia reversing course.
The pact tackles the ethnic partition of Kosovo between its Albanian majority and a small Belgrade-backed pocket of some 50,000 Serbs in the north, a schism that has dogged regional stability since Kosovo seceded from Serbia in 2008.
Serbia hopes it will be enough to win the green light on Monday from the EU’s 27 members for the start of talks on Serbian accession to the bloc.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who led a guerrilla army in an insurgency against Serb forces in 1998-99, told reporters: “This agreement represents a new era ... This agreement will help us heal wounds of the past, if we have the wisdom and knowledge to implement it in practice.” Under the agreement, the north of Kosovo will be absorbed into the legal framework of the country but retain limited autonomy in areas of health, education, policing and courts.
Source http://gulftoday.ae/portal/33e8a07d-b3ca-4299-92b4-df0361c28508.aspx
BRUSSELS: Serbia and its former province of Kosovo struck an historic deal on Friday to settle their fraught relations, opening the door to European Union (EC) membership talks for Belgrade in a milestone for the region’s recovery from the collapse of Yugoslavia.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the prime ministers of both sides had initialled an agreement during talks in Brussels, capping six months of delicate negotiations after over a decade of deep animosity since Kosovo broke away in war.
“It’s very important that now what we are seeing is a step away from the past and for both of them a step closer to Europe,” Ashton told reporters.
Nato, whose troops help maintain security in Kosovo, hailed an EU-brokered normalisation accord between Belgrade and Pristina and said it stood ready to help implement it.
“I am very happy for Nato to contribute to the conclusion of an historic agreement,” the head of the military alliance Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.
Kosovo Serb deputies in northern Kosovo “demand a referendum in Serbia to
be called in which the citizens will decide whether Kosovo will remain in Serbia or accept the deal that would give it a date to start negotiations with the EU,” said a resolution adopted after the deal was signed in Brussels.
Kosovo’s EU’s integration minister, Vlora Citaku, tweeted: “And the white smoke is out! Habemus pactum! Happy:)))” Serbian officials said the deal remained subject to approval by “state bodies” back in Belgrade. “We will inform the EU by letter on Monday whether we accept the deal or not,” Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic told reporters. EU diplomats said there was very little chance of Serbia reversing course.
The pact tackles the ethnic partition of Kosovo between its Albanian majority and a small Belgrade-backed pocket of some 50,000 Serbs in the north, a schism that has dogged regional stability since Kosovo seceded from Serbia in 2008.
Serbia hopes it will be enough to win the green light on Monday from the EU’s 27 members for the start of talks on Serbian accession to the bloc.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who led a guerrilla army in an insurgency against Serb forces in 1998-99, told reporters: “This agreement represents a new era ... This agreement will help us heal wounds of the past, if we have the wisdom and knowledge to implement it in practice.” Under the agreement, the north of Kosovo will be absorbed into the legal framework of the country but retain limited autonomy in areas of health, education, policing and courts.
Source http://gulftoday.ae/portal/33e8a07d-b3ca-4299-92b4-df0361c28508.aspx
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