BELGRADE, March 1. /TASS/. President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic said he was not ready to recognize Kosovo's independence and allow it to join the UN, he said in his address to the nation.
"I do not want and cannot discuss mutual acceptance or Kosovo's UN membership. I am willing to negotiate everything else," he said, adding that he had previously spoken about this with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Vucic also said that the European Union threatened Serbia with isolation and withdrawal of all investments if the Kosovo plan was abandoned. "The text of the EU plan was provided without the option of negotiations, we were also informed about the consequences in case of refusal, including immediate withdrawal of investments, as well as the nation’s isolation. We had to remain in the negotiations or risk falling into an economic abyss. On Monday, we had a conversation in Brussels -we did not agree, but we said we will continue negotiations, there will be many more negotiations,"he said.
The EU Foreign Policy Service released the "Agreement on the Path to Normalization between Kosovo and Serbia"on Monday. The document contains mutual passport recognition, Serbia refusing to represent Kosovo on the international stage, the exchange of diplomatic missions, and the parties' legal obligations to work towards a comprehensive normalization of relations.
According to Josep Borrell, EU’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo previously agreed on the wording of the agreement during the talks in Brussels.