TIRANA, September 5 – Prime Minister Ana Brnabic visited northern Kosovo Monday, becoming the first senior Serbian official to travel to this area of this Balkan country since it won independence breaking from former Yugoslavia.
“I sincerely hope that the temporary institutions in Pristina become genuinely committed to dialogue and finding a certain compromise needed for long-term normalization of ties between Belgrade and Pristina,” said Brnabic during a press conference, referring to Kosovo authorities.
The visit comes just over a week after Kosovo and Serbia signed a landmark arrangement that will allow for the free movement of their citizens between the two countries.
In the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica, about a thousand local Serbs greeted Brnabic, waving Serbian flags and holding signs that read “We have only one prime minister” and “Welcome to Serbia, holy land of Kosovo.”
The deal followed weeks of negotiations in Brussels after northern Kosovo was rocked by unrest this summer with Serb protesters blocking border crossings and firing at police over a plan by Kosovo authorities to introduce a new set of travel documents for people entering the territory with Serbian IDs.
“That is something we need – not just for our European integration – but for ourselves,” said Brnabic.
Serbia has been a candidate to join the European Union since 2012, however, most experts doubt the country stands a chance of entering the bloc until Belgrade hammers out a deal to normalize ties with Kosovo.
On Sunday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said both Germany and France have offered to send additional envoys to assist in the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina.
During her one-day Kosovo tour, the PM Brnabic, 46, visited educational facilities, a Serbian Orthodox monastery, and met with local citizens.
Northern Mitrovica has long been a flashpoint between the two communities following the bitter war in the 1990s that triggered a NATO bombing campaign paving the way for Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008. /Argumentum.al
