Kosovo urges EU to keep pressure on Serbia

Dec 8, 2011, 13:52 GMT

Pristina/Belgrade - Kosovo on Thursday urged the European Union to maintain pressure on Serbia and force that country to implement agreements it has made on normalizing ties with Kosovo.

'It is time for EU to apply serious pressure,' Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj said. The EU was due to decide Friday at a summit in Brussels whether to recognize Serbia as a membership candidate.

Germany warned that it will not allow Serbia to advance in its membership bid before it normalizes relations with the breakaway province of Kosovo. That includes progress in talks the EU has been facilitating between Belgrade and Pristina since March.

While several breakthroughs were declared from the eight rounds of talks, most recently on the tense issue of border controls, Kosovo officials complained that Serbia is not implementing the agreements.

'We are ready to continue the dialogue, but do not think it can yield results,' Hoxhaj was quoted as saying. 'We cannot continue holding meetings if Serbia is not ready to implement agreements.'

The key agreements were related to borders and trade. Kosovo says that Serbia continued a de facto trade embargo despite agreeing to lift it in early July.

Kosovo is a former Serbian province with a mostly Albanian population. It declared independence in 2008 and was recognized by several major Western powers, including 22 of the 27 EU nations.

Serbia insists the secession was illegal and continues to treat the territory as its own, which has led to tensions and set it on a collision course with the countries that have recognized Kosovo.

The dispute over border management and trade led to months of blockades in northern Kosovo, the largest enclave of ethnic Serbs.

Ethnic Serbs there erected roadblocks across all major roads in the area after a failed attempt by Pristina authorities to seize control over two border points in the enclave.

Facing isolation from the EU, Serbia pressed its compatriots to finally start removing roadblocks this week, but it remains to be seen whether that was enough for the EU to award it formal membership candidacy.

The chief of the EU law-enforcing mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Xavier de Marnhac, late Wednesday welcomed the removal of some roadblocks in the north, but said more needs to be done and 'full movement on the roads of northern Kosovo' must be restored.

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