Annex to the “Agreement on the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia”

Leaders of Kosovo and Serbia agreed on the French-German plan which is now formally called “Agreement on the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia”. EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles stated that “more work is to be done to finalise the discussions on the Implementation Annex, which will guide the implementation phase of the Agreement.” The text below is the leaked version of this annex which was published earlier by a Kosovo medium. Sources say it’s not far from the current version negotiated.

Implementation Roadmap

1. This Annex constitutes an integral part of the Agreement.
2. This Annex describes the sequence of events to implement the Agreement. These events stem from the obligations of the Parties referred to in Articles 1,4,7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Agreement. All other Articles will enter into force upon signature of the Agreement.
3. No later than within 15 days after the signature of the Basic Agreement, the Management Team shall convene to present a first draft of the Statute to ensure an appropriate level of self management for the Serbian community in Kosovo to the EU-facilitated Dialogue, after which the Parties will immediately start negotiations on the Statute under EU facilitation.
4. Upon presentation of the first draft of the Statute and launching of negotiations on it, the Parties shall formally enable the following to enter into force immediately: a) Mutual recognition of their respective documents and national symbols (Article 1 (2) of the Agreement); and b) Exchange of permanent missions on the basis of a prior agreement on practical arrangements (Article 8 of the Agreement)
5. The Parties commit to finalise the negotiations and agree on the Statute in an expedited timeframe, but no later than the deadline referred to in Article 8 of this Annex. Kosovo commits to ensure the legal sustainability of the Agreed Statute, and endorse it by adopting a decree.
6. Within 30 days after the signature of the Agreement, the Parties shall set up a Joint Committee to monitor the implementation of the Agreement, chaired by the EU (Article 10 (1) of the Agreement), and agree on the Terms of Reference of the Committee.
7. Within 30 days after the setting up of the Joint Committee, Kosovo shall formalize the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and start internal procedures on the protection of Serbian religious and cultural heritage sites under the EU-facilitated Dialogue (Article 7 (2) of the Agreement).
8. Within 150 days after the signature of the Agreement, the EU, together with other donors shall organize a high-level conference to adopt a special investment and financial support package (Article 9 of the Agreement). No disbursements from the package wll take place before the EU Facilitator concludes that all provisions of this Annex and Article 4 of the Basic Agreement have been fully implemented.

(original source: TV7 and https://www.dukagjini.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Agreement-2.pdf)