The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has declared today at the government meeting about Serbia’s decision to recognize RKS license plates, which he called the next maneuver for the sake of power in Belgrade.

In the address in front of the ministers, Kurti criticized Serbia for not implementing the agreements for a period of more than 10 years, while he added that its decision is intentional since Belgrade is aiming to reduce the pressure from the democratic West, for irregular and undemocratic elections.

“Although it serves the free and easy movement between the two states, I want to emphasize that this decision firstly is coming after a non-implementation of previous agreements for more than 10 years, the two-year use of the license plate issue by Serbia to undermine the security situation in the north of our country and, more recently, as an attempt to reduce criticism from the international community on Serbia after the irregularities and fraud in the December elections there. So, the license plates in Kosovo, in September 2021, were used to threaten Kosovo through MIG-29 planes, raised in the sky around the border and attempting to destabilize the north of the country, especially through 16 barricades which were erected on the streets of four northern municipalities for 3 weeks in a row in December last year. Whereas, in December this year, they are being used to reduce the pressure from the democratic West on Serbia, for irregular and undemocratic elections, to cover the official rejection of the letter of the Prime Minister of Serbia, Bernabic, addressed to the European Council on December 13 and to mask their failure in Banjska on September 24… It is another maneuver of the Serbian state, not for the sake of the Serbian state, certainly for that of Kosovo, but for the sake of the power in Belgrade”, said Kurti.

He has indicated when Kosovo is expected to recognize Serbia’s license plates.

“During all this time, our stance on license plates has been based on the principle of reciprocity. We will continue to be principled and constructive. We will take our equivalent decision as a matter of mutual state relations as soon as our Border Police documents and proves that Serbia is implementing its decision fully and without obstacles”, said the head of the executive.

The Government of Serbia is expected to implement the decision on the recognition of RKS license plates from January 1 next year.