Angered by its request to join the Council of Europe, Serbian minister says another four unnamed countries have de-recognised Kosovo – and Serbia will up efforts to persuade others to do the same.

Serbia to Resume Kosovo Derecognition Campaign, Minister Says

Serbian justice minister Maja Popovic (right), Parliament president Ivica Dacic, president Aleksandar Vucic and defence minister Nebojsa Stefanovic (left) at National Security Council meeting, Belgrade, May 13. Photo: Instagram/@buducnostsrbijeav

Serbian Foreign Mnister Nikola Selakovic said Serbia has received confirmation that four more countries have withdrawn recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, adding that Serbia will resume with its campaign of derecognizing Kosovo – after its former province applied for membership of the Council of Europe.

Selakovic did not name the four countries that de-recognized Kosovo.

“Today, I handed over to President [Aleksandar] Vucic the diplomatic notes of the four countries that withdrew recognition of the so-called Kosovo, and the National Security Council authorized President Vucic to inform the general public about the countries in question when it deems it necessary,” Selakovic said after a National Security Council meeting in Belgrade.

“We want to give a chance to the member states of the Council of Europe not to initiate the procedure of admitting the so-called Kosovo to the Council of Europe in June,” he added. The Security Meeting was scheduled a day after Kosovo applied for membership of the CoE.

Experts BIRN talked to on this topic have questioned the real impact and legal basis of this campaign.

Addressing the public on May 6, Vucic said that Serbia will not say in advance if it intends to leave the CoE if Kosovo is given membership.

But he said that, “on the day we get official confirmation that they [Kosovo] broke the Washington agreement, we will show you what the answer is of a sovereign and independent state like Serbia”.

“On that day, we start first to show you that, and then are moving on to continue and further accelerate, work on the withdrawal of [recognition of] Kosovo’s independence,” Vucic said.

Vucic was referring to agreements Serbia and Kosovo signed in September 2020 in Washington. Serbia pledged to stop its campaign to get countries to “derecognise” Kosovo for one year, while Kosovo also promised to stop applying for membership of international organisations, also for a year. According to BIRN’s own 2021 analysis, the agreements brought no major developments.

Serbia lost control of Kosovo after a NATO air war drove Serbian forces out of the then province in 1999. Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

Most European and Western countries soon recognised it, with the exception of five EU states and, in former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Serbia.

However, China and Russia remain strongly opposed. Russia’s departure from the CoE over its war on Ukraine is one factor prompting staunchly pro-Western Kosovo to seek membership.

Source link: balkaninsight.com