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Good evening to all of you,
We all have had a long day. Yes, it has been a long day and I want
to express my sincere gratitude to our friends here in North
Macedonia, for such a generous hospitality, thank you Prime Minister
[of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovačevski] for hosting us here in this
beautiful [city of] Ohrid with the lake and the mountains and the
city. It was a fantastic view from the windows of the meeting. And
it has provided a fantastic venue for this important meeting. So,
thank you, we will come back with more time to enjoy it.
You know that the objective today was for Kosovo and Serbia to agree
on how to implement the Agreement, accepted in the last High-level
meeting on 27 February in Brussels. The Agreement was reached at the
end of February but today the issue was to agree on how it should be
implemented.
This means practical steps on what has to be done, by when it has to
be done, by whom and how. It is often said that the devil is in the
details, well sometimes the devil is in the calendar, in the
schedule, in the timing.
And we have been discussing for 12 hours about it. And I am glad to
announce that, finally, after 12 hours, we have a deal, we have an
agreement on how to do it.
So I can announce that Kosovo and Serbia have agreed on the
Implementation Annex of the Agreement on the Path to Normalisation
of Relations between them, between Kosovo and Serbia.
As part of the Annex, the Parties have fully committed to honour all
Articles of the Agreement, and implement all their respective
obligations expediently and in good faith.
And this result comes after extensive and difficult negotiations. I
don’t want to hide it. You don’t stay twelve hours arguing for easy
things.
We met today in many different formats and constellations, with the
aim to bridge differences between the Parties.
Allow me to focus on some specific issues:
To implement Article 7 of the Agreement, Kosovo has agreed to launch
immediately – and when I am saying immediately, I mean immediately -
negotiations within the EU-facilitated Dialogue on establishing
specific arrangements and guarantees to ensure an appropriate level
of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo.
The Parties also agreed to endorse the Declaration on Missing
Persons, as negotiated under the EU-facilitated Dialogue, as a
matter of urgency.
I have to recognise that we initially proposed a more ambitious and
detailed proposal for the Annex. Unfortunately, the Parties could
not reach an agreement on this detailed proposal.
This was on the one hand, because I think that one party, Kosovo,
lacked flexibility on the substance, and on the other hand because
[of] Serbia’s previously stated principles not to sign although they
were fully ready to implement.
In order to try to avoid these circumstances we made a number of
creative proposals both about signature and the substance, but the
Parties were not able to find a mutually acceptable solution as
ambitious as we were proposing.
So the Annex and the Agreement are considered adopted through my
statement that will be published.
Believe me, despite the fact that a more ambitious text was proposed
at the beginning, what the Parties have accepted, which means the
Agreement and its implementation through the Annex, will become an
integral part of their respective EU paths.
And in order to make it very concrete, I will launch the work
immediately to formally include the relevant amendments in the
Negotiation Chapter 35 of Serbia’s EU Negotiation Framework, and on
the agenda of Kosovo’s Special Group on Normalisation.
This way, both parties will be bound by the Agreement which will be
part of their European Union path.
And we, at the European Union, we will forcefully demand the Parties
to fulfil their obligations because now they are part, or they will
be part of their EU Paths.
And not fulfilling [them] will come with consequences.
I think that we should focus on the content of what we have agreed
today. And it is clear that both Parties will gain significant
benefits from this Agreement.
Because the Dialogue is not only about Kosovo and Serbia. And the
attention from you – from so many media across the region and beyond
- proves this.
This is not just about Kosovo and Serbia, it is about the stability,
the security, the prosperity of the whole region.
This Dialogue must be seen in the current broader geopolitical
context, as an important tool to maintain peace and stability in the
broader Western Balkans region.
And on Monday, the EU Foreign Ministers will be meeting in Brussels
and the EU Leaders will meet on Thursday and Friday at the European
Council. I will debrief them about these talks and about the
engagement by both Parties to swiftly and fully implement their
obligations.
I want to thank the EU Special Representative [for the
Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues]
Miroslav Lajčák and all his team, and also my team coming from
Brussels, for their tireless work. We have been engaged around the
clock and I think that they deserve recognition and praise for their
work that, believe me, is not always easy.
I want to stress that to open the path towards reaching their
strategic objective of joining the European Union, Serbia and Kosovo
need to normalise their relations. There is no way around it.
And this Agreement, and this Annex, which is an integral part of the
Agreement, is an important step forward in order to make it a
reality.
And we will continue working tirelessly until we reach a
comprehensive agreement on the normalisation of their relations.
And I thank you for your attention, sorry for making you wait for so
long, and thank you once again for the attention that you have been
giving to the event.
Thank you.
Video:
https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-238685
* * *
Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue: Implementation Annex to the Agreement on
the Path to Normalisation of Relations between Kosovo and Serbia
This Annex constitutes an integral part of the Agreement.
Kosovo and Serbia fully commit to honour all Articles of the
Agreement and this Annex, and implement all their respective
obligations stemming from the Agreement and this Annex expediently
and in good faith.
The Parties take note that the Agreement and the Implementation
Annex will become integral parts of the respective EU accession
processes of Kosovo and Serbia. The Parties note that immediately
after the adoption of the Agreement and this Annex, the EU
Facilitator will start the process to amend the Chapter 35
benchmarks for Serbia to reflect Serbia’s new obligations stemming
from the Agreement and this Annex. The agenda of Kosovo’s Special
Group on Normalisation will equally reflect Kosovo’s new obligations
stemming from the Agreement and this Annex.
The Parties agree to endorse the Declaration on Missing Persons, as
negotiated under the EU-facilitated Dialogue, as a matter of
urgency.
To implement Article 7, Kosovo launches immediately negotiations
within the EU-facilitated Dialogue on establishing specific
arrangements and guarantees to ensure an appropriate level of
self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo, in compliance
with relevant previous Dialogue agreements as determined by the EU
Facilitator.
The Parties agree to set up a Joint Monitoring Committee, chaired by
the EU, within 30 days. The implementation of all provisions shall
be ensured and supervised by the Joint Monitoring Committee.
To implement Article 9, the EU will organise a donor conference
within 150 days to set up an investment and financial aid package
for Kosovo and Serbia. No disbursement will happen before the EU
determines that all provisions of the Agreement have been fully
implemented.
Kosovo and Serbia agree that all Articles will be implemented
independently of each other.
The order of the paragraphs of this Annex is without prejudice to
the order of their implementation.
Kosovo and Serbia agree not to block implementation of any of the
Articles.
All discussions related to implementation of the Agreement will take
place under the EU-facilitated Dialogue.
Kosovo and Serbia recognise that any failure to honour their
obligations from the Agreement, this Annex or the past Dialogue
Agreements may have direct negative consequences for their
respective EU accession processes and the financial aid they receive
from the EU. |
