Borrell: We will pressure Belgrade and Pristina to make progress in implementing Ohrid agreement

Photo: Tanjug/AP

EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell said today, on the anniversary of the Ohrid agreement and ahead of tomorrow's meeting in Brussels between chief negotiators representing Belgrade and Pristina, that the EU will continue to put pressure on both sides in order to achieve progress in the implementation of this agreement.

Recommended

Borrell reminded journalists in Brussels, after arriving to the meeting of the EU Council for Foreign Affairs, that today is the first anniversary of the Ohrid agreement and assessed that Belgrade and Pristina have achieved "very limited progress" in implementing it, despite "EU's and international community's great support."

"There will soon be another meeting between chief negotiators here in Brussels. I am very sorry that this agreement, which was very difficult to reach, has not been implemented. We will continue to put pressure on both sides to move forward, but a year later, the implementation has not been exactly the way I expected it to be," Borrell said.

Borrell yesterday called on leaders in Belgrade and Pristina to make progress in implementing the agreement and said that it is high time for the two sides to end the "vicious circle of crises and tensions" and move into a new "European era."

In a statement, on the occasion of the anniversary of the agreement that concerns the path to normalization of relations and an implementation annex, he stressed that the EU expects leaders in Belgrade and Pristina to show "responsibility, vision and leadership by achieving progress in implementation without further delay."

Today, Borrell chairs the EU Council for Foreign Affairs, during which the main topics will be the war in Ukraine, the situation in Belarus and the Middle East.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)