BELGRADE (Serbia), May 30 (SeeNews) – Serbia's prime minister Ana Brnabic has accused the European Commission of using double standards in its assessment on Belgrade's relations with Kosovo, the government said.
In its latest annual assessment and recommendations for the Western Balkans and Turkey, the Commission said Kosovo has yet to engage constructively in the establishment of the Community of Serb majority municipalities, which Brnabic described as an insufficient reaction, the government in a press release.
"I am concerned about the lack of a concrete EU reaction to everything that is happening. First of all, today is 2,226 days since the signing of the Brussels Agreement and the obligation to establish the Community of Serb Municipalities," Brnabic was quoted as saying during a news conference on Wednesday, after the Commission released its opinion on the progress of Serbia on the path to EU membership.
The agreement between Belgrade and Pristina signed in Brussels in 2013 provided the basis for normalisation of relations and opened the way to EU membership.
"Brussels is the guarantor of that agreement, and the EU has guaranteed its implementation," Brnabic stressed.
The EU has offered no reaction to the violation of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) rules by Kosovo which is also an infringement of the Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU signed by Pristina, Brnabic said, referring to the November decision of the government in Pristina to increase import tariffs on all goods produced in Serbia and Bosnia to 100%.
"Brussels has mechanisms to initiate a procedure over violation of the SAA. But apart from verbal condemnation, they did not launch these mechanisms."
In February, the European Union office in Pristina said that Kosovo’s decision to impose a 100% tariff on imports from Serbia and Bosnia is a clear violation of the CEFTA, runs contrary to the spirit of the SSA and has a negative impact on regional cooperation.
Serbia and Bosnia both do not recognise the independence of Kosovo, the former southern province of Serbia populated predominantly by ethnic Albanians.
In its annual assessment, the Commission said that Serbia needs to urgently create more space for genuine cross-party debate and forge a broad pro-European consensus, in order to meet the political criteria for accession into the European Union and to make substantial efforts, in particular in its international relations, to establish a conducive environment to the conclusion of a legally binding agreement with Kosovo.
Since the opening of accession negotiations with Serbia in January 2014, 16 out of 35 chapters of EU body of law have been opened, two of which were provisionally closed. Four chapters were opened during the reporting period from March 2018 to March 2019.
Kosovo, considered to be a potential candidate for EU membership by the European Commission, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008.