(ANSA-AFP) - BRUSSELS, FEB 28 - The European Union published
its peace plan for Serbia and Kosovo on Monday, ramping up
pressure on their leaders to come to a deal after tense talks in
Brussels ended without a clear breakthrough. EU foreign policy
chief Josep Borrell said a next meeting with Kosovo's Prime
Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic
would take place in March and focus on how to implement the
plan. "Progress was made today, and I commend the parties for
their engagement," Borrell said -- appearing before reporters
alone without the Kosovo and Serbian leaders, and taking no
questions. "At the same time, more work is needed to ensure that
what was accepted today by the parties will be implemented," he
said, promising that EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak would continue
"shuttle diplomacy" between Belgrade and Pristina in the coming
weeks. Serbia refuses to recognise the unilateral declaration of
independence Kosovo made in 2008, and bouts of unrest erupt
between local authorities and the Serb minority in the former
breakaway province. The latest round of talks followed months of
shuttle diplomacy, nearly 25 years after the war between ethnic
Albanian insurgents and Serb forces triggered a NATO bombing
campaign that ended the fighting. Even before Monday's meeting
talks, a senior European diplomat said the parties had already
accepted the then-unpublished European plan, and that Monday's
meeting was to discuss implementation. However, afterwards Kurti
and Vucic blamed each other for the meeting ending in acrimony.
Nevertheless, Borrell's office published the previously secret
European peace plan, drawn up in Paris and Berlin but now, he
said, backed by all 27 EU members -- which hold the key to both
Pristina and Belgrade's hopes to one day join the bloc. The
11-point document notably says, without prejudicing recognition
of each other's status, that neither side will resort to
violence to resolve a dispute, nor seek to prevent the other
from joining the EU or other international bodies -- a key
demand from Kosovo. "The parties shall develop normal,
good-neighbourly relations with each other on the basis of equal
rights. Both parties shall mutually recognise their respective
documents and national symbols, including passports, diplomas,
licence plates, and customs stamps," according to Article 1.
"Serbia will not object to Kosovo's membership in any
international organisation," Article 4 says. The plan, however,
also calls on both parties "to ensure an appropriate level of
self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo and ability
for service provision in specific areas, including the
possibility for financial support by Serbia." Pristina has been
reluctant to allow majority Serbian municipalities inside Kosovo
to unite in a Belgrade-backed association, fearing the creation
of a breakaway enclave that would undermine its sovereignty. The
EU is now pushing the idea as part of its plan. (ANSA-AFP).
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