Belgrade and Pristina reach a temporary agreement on license plates
On the night of November 24, Belgrade and Pristina reached an agreement regarding license plates in Kosovo and Metohija.
Balkan media reported this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“It is with great pleasure that I hasten to announce that, through EU mediation, Kosovo and Serbia have agreed on measures to avoid further escalation in order to fully focus on the proposal to normalize relations,” said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, late on November 23.
According to him, Belgrade will stop issuing license plates of the Kosovo and Metohija series, and Pristina will suspend further actions on forced re-registration of vehicles, including issuing fines.
On the morning of November 24, the director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo and Metohija (K&M) and chief negotiator of Belgrade, Petar Petkovic, said that the agreement reached the day before would preserve peace and protect the Serbian people in the north of the region.
“With this agreement, [Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo” Albin] Kurti plans neither fines of 150 euros nor punitive policies against Serbs who drive cars with Serbian license plates,” Petkovic noted.
According to him, license plates issued by Serbia remain valid and will be used as before.
“This means that all car owners will be able to register license plates normally. The only place we will stop is issuing new numbers of the KM series until we find a final solution to the issue. But, one way or another, over the past three years these numbers have no longer been issued. “Tonight, Kurti accepted everything that he refused in previous days, and this is important... I tell all Serbs in Kosovo that they can sleep peacefully,” the head of the chancellery emphasized.
Later, the details of the agreement with Pristina were announced by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in an address to the citizens of the country. He explained that the previous license plates of Kosovo Serbs with the designations of cities in Kosovo and Metohija (about 7 thousand) remain valid, the registration of cars with such numbers can be renewed further without fear of fines, and Serbia still has free license plates for new vehicles.
“We have 90 of them. These numbers remain in use for the entire negotiation period. Fines have been cancelled, and confiscations of cars and driver's licenses have been cancelled. Yes, this is our small tactical victory, but difficult times await us. I am glad that we have maintained peace for our people who are fed up with bullying. You yourself saw how many people took to the streets yesterday,” said Aleksandar Vucic, speaking about mass rallies in Kosmet on November 23, at which people declared that they did not intend to tolerate the arbitrariness of Pristina.
“I made it clear to Brussels where our red lines are. At some point there was a threat to stop the negotiations and I said: “So what, are you going to brag about the breakdown of the dialogue? How then to solve problems? If we don’t give Kosovo the right to a seat in the UN, will you bomb us?” We have no allies in Brussels. I’m fighting, I’m fighting with my legs and arms to preserve what little we have left of 2011,” said Aleksandar Vucic.
In turn, the “Prime Minister” of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo” Albin Kurti confirmed that the agreement on license plates will remain in force for the entire period of negotiations regarding the new German-French proposal to normalize relations between Pristina and Belgrade.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, under pressure from the West, Pristina postponed until March 2023 the introduction of fines for Serbs who refuse license plates of the “Republic of Kosovo”.
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