President of Kosovo intends to raise the issue of Serbian regions’ integration

The president of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci told about his plans to offer Belgrade at the talks in Brussels to integrate the Albanian-populated southern areas of central Serbia in Kosovo and added that he is ready to change the Kosovo constitution for this. On the territory of the southernmost of central Serbia there are the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, partially inhabited by Albanians, whose leaders occasionally require integration of their Presevo Valley with Pristina. In 2001, there were armed conflicts between Albanian forces and Serbian authorities. During a press conference in Pristina on Wednesday former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) Thaci told that the possible joining of the Presevo Valley to the self-proclaimed republic “does not imply the partition of Kosovo, the exchange of territory or autonomy for Kosovo Serbs, only border adjustment”. “Border adjustment assumes complete integration of Presevo, Medvedja and Buyanovtse in Kosovo. This would be a transparent and responsible process of reconciliation between Kosovo and Serbia. If both sides agree with this, no one will be able to resist it. If necessary, Kosovo will change the constitution in case of its integration”, Radio and Kosovo television quotes Thaci as saying. The leader of the unrecognized state noted that border adjustment should be carried out with the official demarcation (delineation) between Pristina and Belgrade. “The requests from political leaders from Medvedge, Presevo and Bujanovac are officially registered, and I will present them in Brussels. It will be very difficult, almost impossible, but if we achieve something, a miracle will happen, and if it does not work out, we tried at least. It should be noted that we cannot waste a chance”, says President of Kosovo. Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told reporters in Belgrade in early August that a good time had come for “reaching a compromise solution”. He reasoned it with the EU and US interest in solving this issue and with Russia’s stance. Serbian President Alexander Vučić also stressed that the Serbian authorities are ready for a “compromise solution” on the Kosovo issue and, for their part, observe all the agreements reached in the dialogue with Kosovo Albanians through the mediation of the EU in Brussels. The possibility of an exchange between Belgrade and Pristina compactly populated by Kosovo Serbs in the municipalities of Leposavic, Zubin-Potok, Zvecan and North Mitrovica in the north from the Ibar River to the Albanian-populated municipalities of Presevo, Buyanovac and Medvedja in the southernmost of Serbia occasionally pops up in society and the media. In February 2008, the Kosovo-Albanian structures in Pristina unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia. In 2011, under the pressure of Brussels and to bring the region closer to the European Union, as well as to ease the lives of the Serbians in Kosovo, the authorities of Serbia were forced to begin negotiations on normalizing relations with Kosovo Albanians through the mediation of the EU. The main reached agreements are the Brussels agreement on the principles of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, concluded in April 2013, and Association of Serb Municipalities, signed by the parties in August 2015. The deadline for the implementation of these agreements – August, 4 – was not observed by Pristina, which led to increased tensions in Kosovo. Source: RIA Novosti