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| Europe |
| Kosovo, Serbia seal deal on key issues |
| 2012-02-25 |
| BRUSSELS: Serbia and its one-time province of Kosovo reached agreement Friday on two key issues that will significantly enhance SerbiaÂ’s chances of becoming an official candidate for EU membership next week. The agreements allow Kosovo to represent itself in international conferences and spell out the technical details of how Serbia and Kosovo will manage their joint borders and border crossings. The EU wanted Belgrade to make new progress in the talks with Kosovo before backing its bid to join the bloc. EU foreign ministers will meet next week to consider whether Serbia has fulfilled conditions required to be a candidate for membership. Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, used to be a province of Serbia. Belgrade has vowed to never recognize its secession but the two sides have been in regular talks for the past year on normalizing ties. One of the key sticking points has been KosovoÂ’s insistence that it be represented in international forums as an independent state, something Serbia has opposed. A compromise proposed by the EU and accepted by both sides states that KosovoÂ’s nameplate at meetings will be followed by an asterisk. This would have a footnote attached referring to a UN Security Council resolution that makes no mention of KosovoÂ’s independence, and a ruling by the International Court of Justice saying KosovoÂ’s declaration of independence is legal. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Why does Serbia want to join the EU right now? Is this a case of rats swimming TO the sinking ship? |
| Posted by: Tom 2012-02-25 14:57 |
| #1 Nothing is finished. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-02-25 00:09 |