Ministers of foreign affairs of the member countries Of the European Union adopted amendments to Chapter 35 in the accession negotiations with Serbia, which refer to Serbia's obligations arising from the agreements reached with Pristina last year in Brussels and Ohrid.
It is about the formal confirmation of the changes that the member states at the level of ambassadors adopted on April 15, which made the changes officially an integral part of the negotiation process on Serbia's membership in the European Union.
"Serbia should fully implement its obligations arising from the Agreement on the Road to Normalization with Kosovo, in accordance with the annex on implementation, agreed on March 18," states the adopted text, which he had access to RTS.
The document also states that "all discussions related to the implementation of the agreement will take place within the dialogue under the auspices of the EU".
After the formal confirmation, it is expected that the changes will be sent to Serbia in the form of a letter.
The document states that the agenda of the "Special Group of Kosovo for Normalization, in order to include Pristina's obligations arising from the Agreement" will be supplemented in the same way.
In point three of the Annex on implementation from Ohrid from March last year, it is foreseen that the obligations from this agreement will become an integral part of the accession process for Belgrade and Pristina.
In the case of Belgrade, it is about negotiation chapter 35, which deals with Kosovo. This chapter, along with chapters 23 and 24 on the rule of law, has particular weight in membership negotiations.
According to the negotiating framework, a lack of progress in these areas can slow down or halt progress in all other negotiating chapters as well.
The condition was, and will remain – dialogue
What does this mean for Serbia's negotiations on joining the European Union? The adoption of these amendments means that Serbia's obligations from Brussels and Ohrid become an integral part of the process of Serbia's accession to the EU.
They boil down to the fact that Serbia will not interfere with Kosovo's membership in international organizations, which some have interpreted as de facto recognition of independence.
The journalist of the European Western Balkans portal Sofija Popović explains that even before the ambassador's decision, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina was one of the central issues.
"The news is that the European Union is changing the negotiating position for Chapter 35 so that those obligations that the President of Serbia accepted in Ohrid will be included in that position. "Brussels' logic is that the parties will be more motivated to implement what was agreed upon if the European path of Serbia and Kosovo is tied to the implementation of the Ohrid agreement", believes Popović and reminds that such a decision is not a surprise.
"That the obligations from Ohrid will become an integral part of the negotiations was said back in March of last year, when the agreement and its annex were accepted."
No progress in European integration is expected
Although the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, often says that he did not sign anything in Ohrid, Popović explains that in the international legal sense, the oral acceptance of an agreement by the head of state is legally binding.
"After the Brussels Agreement, this is the first legally binding agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, regardless of the fact that the President of Serbia points out that he only accepted it verbally," Popović points out, but he does not expect that this decision will have a major impact on the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union. union.
"Although it is true that there are very few things left for Belgrade to implement within the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, I do not expect that this will influence the speeding up of negotiations with Serbia due to the poor state of democratic institutions and the rule of law." Even if the authorities decide to recognize Kosovo tomorrow, Serbia would need at least five years to fulfill all other necessary criteria".
