Geopolitics
Urging An End To Border Tensions
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her latest tour of the Balkans to call for an easing of tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, with Belgrade and Pristina having been engaged in a bitter border dispute over vehicle license plates
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t was late on 29th September that reports emerged from the Kosovo side claiming that a draft agreement had been reached to bring to an end the clash, but no immediate confirmation of such an agreement has been forthcoming from Serbia. “I must say I am very concerned about the current crisis,” said von der Leyen, speaking at a press conference with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina.
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“It is important to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table to find a sustainable solution. The only way to do that is the EUfacilitated dialogue. That is the only platform to resolve the current crisis,” said the Commission president, whose visit was originally intended to promote EU enlargement along the bloc’s southeast border. “We have come a long way. We have made a lot of progress. We never lose sight
of the goal that is the whole of the Western Balkans and Kosovo being part of the European Union,” she added. Serbia and Kosovo have been attempting to negotiate away their differences through an EU-led dialogue since 2011. Those talks aim to resolve technical issues that have existed between the two since Kosovo declared independence in 2008, which Serbia does not recognise, while also advancing them along the path to EU integration. The EU has also been assisting with the region’s economic development, including a COVID-19 recovery pledge of €3.3 billion, according to von der Leyen. However, it was an agreement signed in Brussels in 2016 that led to the latest escalation in tension. Kurti’s government sent heavily armed special police to its northern border on 20th September, the date marking the expiry of the validity of U.N. license plates, which were issued along with regular Kosovo plates. The U.N. plates began being issued in the period following the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, when Kosovo became a de facto U.N. protectorate. After Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and began issuing its own license plates, the U.N. plates continued to be issued in parallel — until last year. Given that Serbia recognises the U.N. mandate in Kosovo and not Pristina’s independence, the U.N. plates were preferred among most of those travelling regularly to Serbia — including both Serbs and Albanians. Last year, however, in line with a clause in the 2016 agreement that foresaw the plates expiring in 2021, Kosovo stopped issuing U.N. plates.
