Kosovo Shuns Dialogue With Serbia To Join Council Of Europe - Serbian Foreign Ministry

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published May 13, 2022 | 08:21 PM

The Kosovo-Albanian authorities in Pristina demonstrated unwillingness to engage in negotiations with Belgrade and comply with already existing agreements by sending an application to join the Council of Europe, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said on Friday

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2022) The Kosovo-Albanian authorities in Pristina demonstrated unwillingness to engage in negotiations with Belgrade and comply with already existing agreements by sending an application to join the Council of Europe, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said on Friday.

On Thursday, Kosovo applied for membership in the Council of Europe. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called the move a violation of international law and norms of the UN Security Council.

"By submitting a formal application for membership of self-proclaimed Kosovo in the Council of Europe, Pristina has shown that it fails to comply with the agreement reached (in Washington), the word given, and does not respect the position of the country where the agreement was concluded. Thus, Pristina has shown that it has no intention to reach any decision via dialogue with Belgrade, and has chosen the path of unilateral steps," Selakovic said.

The Serbian foreign minister added that the country's leadership is subject to terrifying pressure by external forces seeking to force Belgrade to accept the violation of its territorial integrity.

In 2008, the Kosovo-Albanian structures in Pristina unilaterally proclaimed independence from Belgrade. Since then, Kosovo has been recognized by 100 UN member states. Serbia, Russia, China and some other countries have objected to Kosovar independence.

In 2013, Serbia and Kosovo signed an EU-mediated agreement to normalize relations, but the dialogue soon came to a standstill.

In 2020, the sides struck another deal on normalization, brokered by the United States. The documents signed in Washington provided for a moratorium for both sides on lobbying for recognition and denial of recognition of the self-proclaimed republic by third countries. However, in August 2021, Kosovo's parliament refused to pass a resolution on the implementation of the agreements.