Another motive may be hiding behind the German-French invitation to Serb and Albanian leaders to gather in Berlin under the slogan of cooperation in the region. This motive could be, according to media reports, to exert pressure on Belgrade to agree to continue the dialogue with Pristina, without Pristina abolishing its tariffs on Serbian products first.
Vecernje Novosti writes that some diplomatic circles are saying this, as well as those who spoke for the Belgrade newspaper to interpret the engagement of the Berlin-Paris axis in resolving key issues in the Western Balkans, primarily in the revival of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
Anther Belgrade-based daily, Srpski Telegraf, says that for this reason, by no means accidentally, the Pristina media put out the story that on April 29 in Berlin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic would hold informal talk with the president and prime minister of the Pristina institutions, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj, and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama on resolving the Kosovo issue.
According to the newspaper, Berlin and Paris “have a strategy to round off Kosovo independence at all costs, with negligible concessions to Serbs, thus preventing the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s plan to partition” the southern Serbian province.
“Pressure from Germany and France has intensified lately. They are asking Belgrade to give in, resume the dialogue, and sign a comprehensive agreement with Pristina to recognize Kosovo. In return, an entity with a similar status to the Serb Republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina would be formed in northern Kosovo,” an unnamed source told the newspaper.
The Serbian president confirmed on Wednesday that he would respond to the invitation of Germany and France to meet with representatives of the Pristina administration on April 29 in Berlin, but added that he did not expect anything from that meeting, and that Belgrade is ready to start talking when Pristina abolishes its tariffs.
Thaci also said last night that he did not expect anything new in relations between Belgrade and Pristina at that meeting.
“It will be a routine meeting that will confirm the interest of Germany and France in the development of the situation in the Western Balkans. It is very good that this conference will definitely stimulate the (EU) visa liberalization option for Kosovo, but also the opportunity to condemn the genocide of Serbia in Kosovo,” he said – Pristina-based Koha is reporting.
