Serbia, Kosovo leaders to meet over vehicle registration crisis

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the vehicle license plates row that rose tensions between the former foes, the EU said Sunday.

"The focus of the emergency meeting will be on finding a way out of the current crisis and avoiding any further escalation and tensions on the ground, with an emphasis on licence plates and the return of Kosovo Serbs to Kosovo institutions," the EU said in a statement.

The talks will take place amid Serbia and its ex Albanian-majority province's escalations that could become one of the worst regional crises in years.

The main reason of tension is the 2008 declaration of independence of Kosovo which Serbia does not recognise and encourages the Serb minority to remain loyal to Belgrade.

This month, Serbs in northern Kosovo resigned from public institutions in protest over the row on vehicle number plates.

The Serb representatives have since  returned to Kosovo's parliament but not to other public bodies.

Pristina has declared that around 10,000 Kosovan Serbs with licence plates issued by Serbia must replace them with plates from the Republic of Kosovo by next April, under a gradual plan that would involve warnings, fines and road bans.

The dispute alarmed the European Union, which has been a mediation between the two parties and trying to normalize ties between them.

As for the Serbian President, he did not seem to be optimistic an agreement would be reached.

"I will go there not because I believe that we can do anything, but to not give ... a sufficient reason to blame Serbia for not wanting to participate in something," Vucic told TV Prva quoted by the RTS state-run broadcaster.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell will separately meet with the two leaders starting 8:00 am (0700 GMT) before the three of them hold talks together.

In the meantime, Kosovo police will start issuing fines on Tuesday for all owners of vehicles that have not been re-registered with the RKS license plates after the deadline set by the Kosovo Government ended on Sunday.

"As stipulated by the official decision of November 1, 2022, owners of vehicles with illegal license plates in Kosovo were issued a warning by the Kosovo Police, with instructions to contact the Vehicle Registration Center to re-register their vehicles. To date, approximately 1,740 warnings have been issued ", Kosovo Police announced. 

The US, which in 1999 backed Kosovar forces in their fight against Serbia, advised to postpone the decision to give time for EU-led diplomacy.

In August, the EU brokered an agreement to allow free movement between Kosovo and Serbia, after a series of violent incidents.