“I am very pleased that the main negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia, with the mediation of the European Union, have agreed on measures to avoid further escalation and focus fully on the normalization of relations between them,” Borrell wrote. “Serbia will stop issuing number plates with the names of Kosovo cities and Kosovo will refrain from any further action regarding the re-registration of vehicles.” The two sides are expected to discuss further steps in the coming days.
Authorities in Kosovo began implementing a regulation on November 1st, which aims to replace Serbian license plates with Kosovo ones by April 21st. At first, the Kosovo police only warned the car owners, now they should be punished too. The conflict had already seriously escalated in the summer after Kosovo’s government questioned the validity of Serbian number plates in the country for the first time. Then the Kosovo Serbs closed the border crossings into Serbia.
Kosovo, inhabited mostly by Albanians, unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in early 2008. Belgrade does not recognize the move and still considers Kosovo a southern Serbian province, as do the Serbs who live there. Kosovo was placed under UN administration in 1999 to protect Albanians living there from attacks by Serbian security forces.
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