Thousands of Serbs protest against agreement with Kosovo

IOn Friday evening in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, several thousand people protested against the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia protested. The demonstrators carried Serbian flags and banners reading “Kosovo is not for sale”, “Serbia, not the European Union” and “No to surrender”.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is set to negotiate on Saturday with Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti and EU officials over a path to normalizing relations, which both sides agreed to last month following pressure from the EU had agreed.

Bilateral relations must be improved so that Serbia and Kosovo can achieve their goal of joining the EU. According to the Serbian constitution, Kosovo is part of its own territory, although it declared independence in 2008 with the support of the US and the European Union.

The rapprochement of the two Balkan countries is to be achieved via a basic treaty, as was previously the case between the Federal Republic and the GDR. It provides that questions such as mutual recognition are initially ignored and that both governments can still talk to each other. The opening of mutual diplomatic representations in the capitals is also planned.

The EU and the USA have given Serbia and Kosovo until March to decide on the basic treaty.