Serbia, Kosovo hail agreement on license plate dispute

BELGRADE, Serbia

Top officials of Serbia and Kosovo on Thursday welcomed an agreement resolving a long-running dispute over vehicle license plates.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced late Wednesday that Serbia and Kosovo had reached an agreement to “avoid further escalation and to fully concentrate on the proposal on normalization of their relations.”

According to Borrell, Serbia will stop issuing license plates bearing the initials of Kosovo cities while Kosovo will cease further actions related to the re-registration of vehicles.

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo had risen since ethnic Serbs in Kosovo withdrew from all central and local institutions in protest over Pristina’s decision to replace old vehicle license plates issued by Serbian authorities with those from Kosovo.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in an address to the nation said he is pleased that Serbia succeeded in preserving the peace of its people.

"I am satisfied that we have preserved peace for our people, because those wonderful women who protested deserve peace, their children deserve to go to school normally. I am pleased that the whole of Serbia was not endangered, as this year will be a record for foreign investments," said Vucic.

Vucic also vowed to protect the rights of Serbs in Kosovo.

"Serbs are fed up with bullying, blackmailing, and international pressure in which no one takes care of them...We have to be strong and protect Serbia. Serbs are not afraid. They know the sanctity they are defending. Serbia will win,'' he added.

Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani also expressed gratitude on social media to the US government for their support.

"I want to thank ambassador Jeff Hovenier and the US government for their active engagement in reaching today’s deal in Brussels. Their support for the dialog process between Kosovo and Serbia is indispensable. Kosovo is grateful,'' said Osmani.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the agreement is not only about license plates but also about giving space to the European proposal.

“We agreed to reciprocally suspend actions, so we will not issue fines for KM license plates and we will give space to negotiations on the European proposal, which we previously called the French-German proposal," Kurti said.

According to Kurti, the dialogue process is entering the phase of negotiations on the general framework for the first time, which will be legally binding and solve fundamental problems from the perspective of international law.

Vucic in early October said that Germany and France had offered to expedite Serbia’s European Union membership process if the country recognized Kosovo’s independence.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, with most UN member states including the US, UK, France, Germany and Türkiye recognizing it as a separate autonomous country from its neighbor. But Belgrade continues to regard it as its territory.

Prior to the latest agreement, the second phase of Kosovo's decision on the re-registration of vehicles had been expected to begin Monday, with the owners of vehicles with Serbian license plates set to be fined €150 ($156).

Brussels has facilitated the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue, which is designed to ease tensions and resolve bilateral issues, one of the requirements for full-fledged EU membership.