German MPs Nudge Serbia Over Kosovo

German parliamentarians, on a two-day visit to Serbia, have told the Belgrade government they want to more action on Kosovo before Serbia can further its aspirations to join the EU

The chief request of the delegation led by Andreas Schneckenhof, from the ruling Christian Democratic Union, CDU, “is implementation of Brussels agreement reached with Kosovo. Germany is glad that Serbia reached the deal, but is still waiting for this to be implemented” a senior EU official told BIRN, referring to the EU-brokered deal designed to normalise relations between Serbia and its ex-province.

Serbia also wants Belgrade to encourage Kosovo Serbs to resolve their problems with Kosovo's own institutions and dissolvde all remaining so-called parallel insitutions, the same source said.

“Both the EU and Germany want also to see domestic reforms to continue – namely progress in the area of rule of law, economic governance," the source added.

"More laws need to be brought in line with the EU negotiations agenda, but also, and more importantly, all this need to be implemented,” the source continued, underlining that Enlargement Commisioner Stefan Fuele, who was yesterday on a brief unofficial visit to Serbia, made the same point.

Schneckenhof, seen as a conservative hardliner in the German CDU, also said the Serbian government should finally prosecute those who set fire to the German embassy in Belgrade during protests against Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008.

The protests were organised by far-right groups but were backed the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Serbian Radical Party, in which Serbia's current President, Tomislav Nikolic, and the Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, were then senior figures.

The visit...

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