Serbia has rejected a European Union-brokered deal on relations with neighbouring Kosovo, casting doubt on both countries’ prospects for closer ties with Brussels.
Belgrade is unhappy with the degree of autonomy offered to Serbs living in northern Kosovo under a proposal advanced during talks in Brussels last week, which ended in failure.
The EU, under Ireland’s presidency, has warned that a deal must be struck before the bloc’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton completes a report on Serbia and Kosovo in the middle of this month.
If that report fails to give a positive assessment of relations between the neighbours, they are unlikely to make progress as planned in June, when Serbia hopes to receive a date to start accession talks and Kosovo intends to sign a stabilisation and association agreement – a first key step on the road to membership.
'Bad news'
The current plan for Kosovo-Serb relations "fails to recognise our basic interests and should not be signed", said deputy prime minister Aleksandar Vucic.
“We will ask that the dialogue continue; we need a solution as soon as possible . . . If there is a negative answer from [the EU], that would be bad news for Serbia, Kosovo and the EU,” added Mr Vucic.
“We don’t want Serbia isolated from the world, but we have to protect our interests . . . It is highly important that we reach an agreement.”
Serbia appears willing to accept Pristina’s sovereignty over the whole of Kosovo – without formally recognising the independence of its former province – as long as Serb-dominated northern Kosovo enjoys a large degree of autonomy.
Belgrade is believed to want Serbs in northern Kosovo to have control over their local police and judiciary, and to receive guarantees that the Kosovo army will not enter Serb areas.
Granting autonomy
Kosovo's leaders – many of whom fought Serb forces in the 1998-1999 war that led to the region's declaration of independence in 2008 – believe granting autonomy to northern Kosovo would make it ungovernable and formalise the current de facto split between ethnic-Albanian and ethnic-Serb areas.