Blinken says Kosovo, Serbian leaders face 'difficult compromises'

[February 15, 2023]  BELGRADE (Reuters) - Kosovo and Serbian leaders will have to make "difficult compromises" to resolve outstanding issues and normalise their relations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.  

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media with German Economy Minister Robert Habeck prior to meetings at the State Department in Washington, U.S., on February 7, 2023. Olivier Douliery/Pool via REUTERS

U.S. and EU envoys are pressing the countries to approve a peace plan presented in mid-2022 under which Belgrade would stop lobbying against Kosovo having a seat in international organisations including the United Nations.

Kosovo would commit to forming an association of Serb-majority municipalities under the proposals.

"I am confident that normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo will bring security and prosperity for Serbia and all citizens of the Western Balkans," Blinken said in a statement on the State Department's website.

"Certainly, Serbian and Kosovan leaders will make difficult compromises to achieve these goals, but the rewards for the Serbian people – and the entire region – will be vast," Blinken said, congratulating Serbia as it marked its Statehood Day on Wednesday.

Both Belgrade and Pristina have accepted the EU plan in principle, saying it is a good base for further negotiations. Normalisation of relations with Kosovo is one of the key conditions for Serbia to progress towards EU membership.

Serbia continues to support the refusal of 50,000 ethnic Serbs in north Kosovo to recognise the country's independence, 25 years after NATO bombing drove its police and army out of Kosovo.

Blinken also urged Serbia "to support Ukraine against Russia's unprovoked, unjustified, and brutal war".

Belgrade has long performed a delicate balancing act between its EU aspirations and partnership with NATO on the one hand and its centuries-old ethnic and religious kinship with Russia.

Although it has repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the United Nations and other international forums, Serbia has been criticised by Brussels for not formally introducing sanctions against Moscow.

Russia is Serbia's main ally in its opposition to the 15-year-old independence of its former province Kosovo.

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Helen Popper)

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