NEGOTIATORS FROM Serbia and Kosovo last night embarked on their first face-to-face talks since Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008, an EU-sponsored engagement which is likely is continue for up to a year.
The talks, which are scheduled to continue today, are taking place in Brussels. In the long term, the contacts will have a crucial bearing on whether either country can join the EU.
The immediate aim, however, is to facilitate stronger ties between them. The refusal of Serbia to recognise the independence of its former territory leads to numerous practical difficulties. Cars registered in Kosovo, for example, are not allowed into Serbia.
The dialogue follows Serbia’s move last autumn to abandon a challenge in the UN General Assembly to Kosovo’s independence. Two months earlier, the UN’s highest court ruled that the country’s declaration of independence did not violate international law.
A European diplomat said the talks would cover between 15 and 20 issues in three general areas: regional co-operation; the free movement of people and trade; and the rule of law. The negotiating teams are expected to meet twice monthly.
Antagonism between Serbia and Kosovo remains undimmed since Serbia was expelled from the territory by Nato forces in 1999 after an 11-week bombing campaign.
Serbs consider Kosovo to be the cradle of their culture and national identity, but had latterly made up only 10 per cent of the population in the landlocked territory. Nato’s intervention followed a civil war in which approximately 10,000 people were killed, mostly ethnic Albanians, but also including more than 2,000 Serbs.
While Serbian president Boris Tadic has long insisted it will not recognise Kosovo’s independence, Pristina hopes that that will be ultimate result of the dialogue. “The process will last long but I strongly believe it will end with the recognition of each other as sovereign,” prime minister Hashim Thaci told parliament.
Mr Tadic faces internal pressure from opposition parties not to dilute his resistance to Kosovo’s independence.