Two U.S. senators have urged Kosovo to implement a Western-brokered peace deal with Serbia if it wants to join the NATO military alliance.
Chris Murphy and Gary Peters are part of a congressional delegation visiting the Balkans. The agreement reached in March with European Union mediation has not been implemented and there has been no progress on the ground in northern Kosovo, which ceded from Serbia in 2008. Washington is Kosovo’s main supporter, and there are currently around 4,000 NATO troops stationed on the ground there of which 600 are from the United States. Kosovo’s population is about 90% Albanian, but Serbia and its traditional ally, Russia, have not recognised its independence since the breakup of Yugoslavia. Some 50,0000 Kosovar Serbs also refuse to accept Pristina’s rule and both Belgrade and Moscow have blocked Kosovo’s bid to become a member of the United Nations. Belgrade still considers the territory to be part of Serbia and it also goes unrecognised by four NATO members: Romania, Spain, Greece and Slovakia.
Speaking in Pristina, Chris Murphy was clear that these four could be convinced to accept Kosovo in NATO if differences with Serbia were settled.
„The pathway (for Kosovo) to NATO and to the European Union runs through an agreement with Serbia. That’s a hard fact,” he said.
CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE NEWS
NATO: Kosovo Must Make its Peace With Serbia
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