Serbia: Vucic vows to stick to peace policy as tensions rise in Kosovo

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday that Serbia will keep striving for peace and stability, as tensions rose in Kosovo and Metohija over Pristina's new controversial actions.

The Serbian leader spoke on Friday night with EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak for nearly five hours behind closed doors. Next morning, the Vucic held a meeting with the Cabinet of Ministers and other meetings with Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko and Chinese Ambassador Chen Bo.

"We aren't stepping back from the responsible policy of peace and stability," Vucic said on social media.

Representatives of the Kosovo Serbs, the Serb List party, said on Thursday they would consider withdrawing from all structures of Kosovo due to Pristina's controversial decision.

The decision is to remove the Serbian police chief for having refused to issue written warnings to local Serbs regarding car plates. Later, Kosovo Serbs scheduled a protest on November 6.

Authorities in Kosovo require local Serbs to re-register their car plates and demand that they feature the EU-standard letter code of RKS (Republic of Kosovo) instead of KM, the Serbian identifier for the disputed region of Kosovska Mitrovica on the border.

October 31 was the deadline for the re-registration.

It is worth noting that Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement in August on "freedom of movement" following weeks of tensions.

Both Serbs and Kosovo residents living in the northern part of the breakaway province will be able to freely move between Serbia and Kosovo using their existing ID cards, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said in a statement, adding that the EU had "received guarantees from Prime Minister Kurti." 

Borrell then praised the development by saying that “we found a European solution that facilitates travel between Kosovo and Serbia.” He also lauded Vucic’s actions by saying that the Serbian President “showed responsibility and leadership today.” The senior EU diplomat also thanked the US “for their support to the EU-facilitated dialogue,” calling it “an example of excellent practical EU-US cooperation.” 

Read: EU concerned about 'inflammatory rhetoric' of Serbia, Kosovo

He admitted that “the problem with the license plates” had not yet been resolved and called on the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo to “continue showing pragmatism and constructiveness” in this regard as well.

Yet Belgrade didn't seem to be feeling as happy as Brussels. Vucic described the negotiations with "Albanians from Kosovo" as "very unsuccessful, terribly difficult," adding that "in the end we came to the point that we do not agree on anything." Vucic was speaking to Serbian citizens on Saturday.

What is important is that “Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija can move and enter and leave the territory of Kosovo and Metohija freely,” Vucic said, adding that Belgrade is asking “for guarantees from EU, we ask that every Serb from the north of Kosovo and Metohija can enter the territory of Kosovo and Metohija with Serbian documents, and that they can leave whenever they want.”