MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-09-20 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] EU never mises a chance to screw with the Jews
|
timesofisrael.com
EU implies Serbia, Kosovo could risk EU membership bid with Jerusalem
embassy
By LORNE COOK
5-7 minutes
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union warned Serbia and Kosovo on Monday
that they could undermine their EU membership hopes by moving their
Israeli embassies to Jerusalem, as US President Donald Trump’s surprise
announcement about the change left officials in Belgrade and Pristina
scrambling to limit the political fallout.
In an unexpected move last week, Trump said that Serbia and Kosovo had
agreed to normalize economic ties as part of US-brokered talks that
include Belgrade moving its embassy to Jerusalem, and mutual recognition
between Israel and Kosovo.
It surprised the Europeans, who are leading complex talks between Serbia
and its former territory of Kosovo on improving their long-strained
relations, while Serbian officials appeared to be watering down their
commitment to Trump, and Kosovo sought to allay concerns among Muslim
countries.
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The 27-nation EU’s long-held policy is that Jerusalem’s status should be
worked out between Israel and the Palestinians as part of broader peace
negotiations, and that Serbia — as a candidate to join the bloc — should
respect that.
“There is no EU member state with an embassy in Jerusalem,” European
Commission spokesman Peter Stano said. “Any diplomatic steps that could
call into question the EU’s common position on Jerusalem are a matter of
serious concern and regret.”
Praising what he said was “a major breakthrough” and “a truly historic
commitment,” Trump — deep into campaigning ahead of November’s
presidential election — announced Friday that “Serbia and Kosovo have
each committed to economic normalization.”
Trump also said that Serbia has committed to open a commercial office in
Jerusalem this month and move its embassy there in July. The Trump
administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 and
moved the US embassy there in May 2018.
US President Donald Trump watches as Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah
Hoti (R) and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (L) sign an agreement on
opening economic relations, in the Oval Office of the White House in
Washington, DC, on September 4, 2020. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Serbia’s president and
confirmed that Israel and Kosovo, a predominantly Muslim country, will
establish diplomatic relations. He said Pristina also will open its
embassy in Jerusalem.
Stano, speaking as Serbian President Aleksander Vucic and Kosovo Prime
Minster Avdullah Hoti were holding a new round of talks in Brussels on
normalizing their relations, said the EU was told in advance only about
the economic aspects of the White House event, not about movements in
Jerusalem.
In Belgrade, Serbian officials appeared to be stepping back from the
embassy pledge, with Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic saying the final
decision will still have to be discussed by the government and will
depend on “a number of factors” including future development of ties
with Israel.
Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci, meanwhile, was on the phone with
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, trying to assuage fears about
the decision to recognize Israel expressed by Turkey and the Arab League
group of countries.
“Such a recognition will not violate under any circumstances the
strategic, friendly and fraternal partnership with Turkey,” Thaci said
after the conversation.
Netanyahu welcomed the deal that establishes diplomatic relations with
Kosovo, and would have both Kosovo and Serbia open embassies in
Jerusalem. They would join the US and Guatemala as the only countries
with embassies in the contested city, whose eastern sector is claimed by
the Palestinians as the capital of a future state.
“We will continue efforts so that additional European countries will
transfer their embassies to Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said Friday. He noted
that Kosovo becomes the first Muslim-majority country to open an embassy
in Jerusalem.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, around a
decade after Belgrade sent troops into its former territory to crush an
uprising by ethnic Albanian separatists. Serbia refuses to recognize
Kosovo’s statehood, and tensions have simmered ever since.
The EU-facilitated negotiations, which the Europeans say is the only way
to address their membership hopes, started in March 2011 and have
produced more than a dozen agreements, but most of them have not been
observed.
The talks stalled in November 2018 and only resumed in July after a
parallel US negotiating effort began.
But as they met again on Monday, Vucic and Hoti recommitted to the
European track, saying “that they attach the highest priority to EU
integration and to continuing the work on the EU-facilitated
Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue.”
In what was described as a “joint statement” issued by the office of EU
foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Vucic and Hoti also said they
“committed to redoubling their efforts to ensure further EU alignment in
accordance with their respective obligations.”
They appeared to play down Friday’s announcement, by saying that “the
recently agreed documents in Washington, DC, building on previous
Dialogue-related commitments undertaken by the two parties, could
provide a useful contribution to reaching a comprehensive, legally
binding agreement on normalization of relations.”
--
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