Former Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, whose party is part of Kosovo`s ruling coalition, said on Friday that his party would not support the deal if it included an agreement on the use of Lake Gazivode/Ujman. [7] Xhorxhina Bami, Kosovo Missing Persons` Families Seek to Join to Joins to BeIzation with Serbia, Balkan Insight (7 October 2020), balkaninsight.com/2020/10/07/kosovo-missing-persons-families-seek-to-join-talks-with-serbia/. The Executive Director of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence (BFPE), Marko Savković, previously said on behalf of EWB that he was still under discussion as to whether this agreement was really an international agreement that involved obligations. The first important result was an agreement on the restoration of commercial flights between Belgrade and Pristina in January 2020, followed by an agreement on the resumption of rail transport in February. Vucic also announced that an agreement had been reached to open a US office in Belgrade. Development fund, which, he said, would send a strong signal to credit agencies and investors. “The Americans will work with us to oversee important projects, such as the construction of the highway to Pristina. We have agreed on how the railway will be built and how Pristina will be connected to central Serbia via Merdare (a border crossing between Serbia and Kosovo),” Vucic said. He added that projects have been agreed that will be financed by various U.S.
companies and the U.S. Export Bank. On 22 September 2020, the heads of the Chambers of Commerce of Kosovo and Serbia, Berat Rukiqi and Marko Cadez, signed a declaration on the establishment of a joint team dedicated to the implementation of the Agreement on economic normalization of Kosovo Serbia. [23] [22] Nga Trump te Biden, Marrëveshja e Uashingtonit mbetet e paprekshme (From Trump to Biden, the Washington agreement will not be affected), DardaniaPress (January 29, 2020), dardaniapress.com/nga-trump-te-biden-marreveshja-e-uashingtonit-mbetet-e-paprekshme/. There is controversy over the legal nature of the Washington Agreement. One perspective sees the Washington Agreement as a trilateral agreement between the United States, Serbia and Kosovo. This view was rejected by Serbian President Vučić, who sees the Washington agreement as a bilateral agreement between Serbia and the United States, as well as between Kosovo and the United States. [9] The third view is that the Washington Agreement is not at all a legally binding treaty, but only a political obligation that does not create legal obligations.
[10] The agreement contains several clauses that have absolutely nothing to do with the normalization of economic relations between Kosovo and Serbia and whose inclusion in the agreement is therefore ridiculous. These are the clauses under which the two countries agreed to work with the 69 countries that criminalize homosexuality “to push for decriminalization”; promised to designate Hizbullah “in its entirety” as a terrorist organization and to fully implement the necessary measures to limit Hezbollah`s operations and financial activities in its area of responsibility; and finally, the clause in which Kosovo and Israel agreed to recognize each other and Serbia agreed to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by July 1, 2021. The clause that includes mutual recognition between Kosovo and Israel appears only in the document signed by Kosovar Prime Minister Hoti, while the clause that Serbia agrees to the transfer of its embassy to Jerusalem appears only in the document signed by Serbian President Vuči, and this is basically the only difference between the texts of the two agreements, which were signed separately by Hoti and Vucic. [2] Jeff Mason et al., Trump praises economic moves between Serbia and Kosovo, Reuters (September 15, 2020), www.reuters.com/article/usa-serbia-kosovo-int-idUSKBN25V2LX. While participating in negotiations with the United States on economic issues, Kosovo and Serbia continued to participate in a parallel dialogue led by the European Union, which focused on political disagreements between the two sides. [10] [16] Toi Staff, Netanyahu: Kosovo will be the first Muslim-majority country to open the Jerusalem embassy, The Times of Israel (September 4, 2020), www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-kosovo-to-be-first-muslim-majority-nation-to-open-jerusalem-embassy/. Under these agreements, Serbia and Kosovo agreed to join the Schengen mini-zone. [11] Third, the agreement on Kosovo`s accession to the “mini-Schengen area” has no practical value. Formally, there is no entity like the “mini-Schengen zone” – this is something fictitious. The so-called “Schengen mini-zone” refers only to the rhetorical support of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbian leaders (who met three times in Novi Sad, Ohrid and Durres between October and December 2019) to draw up plans that would facilitate cross-border travel and freight traffic between the countries concerned.
Thus, unless concrete steps are taken to formalize such cooperation plans, Kosovo`s commitment to join the “Schengen mini-zone” does not carry much water in terms of normalizing its economic relations with Serbia. [14] Text available from www.nytimes.com/1981/01/20/world/text-of-agreement-between-iran-and-the-us-to-resolve-the-hostage-situation.html. “I think this is some kind of declaration of intent or political commitment to this government, not the next one. We`ll see if Biden insists on the Grenell-sponsored deal. However, there are points that will interest him or `his people` and reflect broader, long-term US interests – in the area of energy security (diversification, less dependence on Russia) and cybersecurity (5G technology, less dependence on China),” Savković said. adding that it is not clear how this will be implemented. and that`s why he thinks we should wait until November. [23] EURACTIV, Vučić to Biden: Recognition of Kosovo not mentioned in any agreement, EURACTIV (February.
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