BRUSSELS: Kosovo and Serbia’s presidents met Thursday under EU auspices to resume dialogue aimed at normalizing relations, amid increasing tensions between former foes.
EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was meeting with Kosovo president Hashim Thaci and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic, her spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic tweeted.
This was their first meeting since July 18, after a scheduled meeting in September between the two presidents fell apart at the last minute due to ongoing tensions.
In 2008, a decade after the 1998-1999 war between Serbia’s forces and pro-independence ethnic Albanian guerrillas, Kosovo broke away from Serbia.
Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence, although more than 100 countries, including the United States and most EU member states, have done so.
“In today’s meeting we will reconfirm Kosovo’s full commitment to achieve a legally binding comprehensive agreement with Serbia,” Thaci tweeted ahead of the meeting.
Vucic said he had no big expectations of a breakthrough but said it was necessary to talk, Serbia’s national broadcaster RTS reported, ahead of the meeting.
After the meeting, that lasted less then an hour, Mogherini said it was “decided to remain in constant contact in the coming days to assess the follow up of today’s meeting.”
She urged both sides “to refrain from words, actions and measures that are contrary to the spirit of normalization,” according to a statement released by the EU’s foreign policy service after the meeting.
“The European Union expects Serbia and Kosovo to swiftly deliver on their commitment to the dialogue given the direct link between comprehensive normalization of relations between them and the concrete prospects for their EU aspirations,” Mogherini said.
Both sides need to reach a binding agreement on their ties to make progress toward EU membership.
The talks resumed two days after Kosovo raised taxes on Serbian goods by 10 percent on Tuesday, saying the move was in retaliation for Belgrade’s efforts to thwart recognition of its former province.
Belgrade is also upset with Pristina’s recent decision to form its own army, despite fierce opposition from the ethnic Serb minority and from Serbia. Kosovo’s security is currently ensured by NATO-led KFOR troops.
In addition, the diplomatic deadlock garnered attention over the summer when officials on both sides discussed the possibility of border changes as part of deal to reset ties.
Local media speculated that a Serb-dominated part of Kosovo could be traded for a mostly Albanian region of southern Serbia.
Rights groups have strongly condemned the proposal, warning that redrawing the map could have a dangerous domino effect in the fractured region.
However, some US and European officials have hinted they might accept such a deal.
Earlier this week, Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said his country “will support any deal that will be reached between Belgrade and Pristina.
“I assume that the EU will also support it, even if the deal includes a land exchange or border correction deal” between Kosovo and Serbia, Kurz added during a visit to Pristina.
Kosovo, Serbian leaders resume dialogue amid tensions
Kosovo, Serbian leaders resume dialogue amid tensions
- EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini met with Kosovo president Hashim Thaci and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic
- This was their first meeting since July 18, after a scheduled meeting in September between the two presidents fell apart at the last minute
Coast Guard is pursuing another tanker helping Venezuela skirt sanctions, US official says
- US oil companies dominated Venezuela’s petroleum industry until the country’s leaders moved to nationalize the sector, first in the 1970s and again in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: The US Coast Guard on Sunday was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea as the Trump administration appeared to be intensifying its targeting of such vessels connected to the Venezuelan government.
The pursuit of the tanker, which was confirmed by a US official briefed on the operation, comes after the US administration announced Saturday it had seized a tanker for the second time in less than two weeks.
The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the ongoing operation and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Sunday’s pursuit involved “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”
The official said the vessel was flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.
The Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the US Coast Guard, deferred questions about the operation to the White House, which did not offer comment on the operation.
Saturday’s predawn seizure of a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries targeted what the White House described as a “falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil.”
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned tanker called Skipper on Dec. 10, another part of the shadow fleet of tankers that the US says operates on the fringes of the law to move sanctioned cargo. It was not even flying a nation’s flag when it was seized by the Coast Guard.
President Donald Trump, after that first seizure, said that the US would carry out a “blockade” of Venezuela. It all comes as Trump has ratcheted up his rhetoric toward Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
This past week Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from US oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a “blockade” against oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country that face American sanctions.
Trump cited the lost US investments in Venezuela when asked about his newest tactic in a pressure campaign against Maduro, suggesting the Republican administration’s moves are at least somewhat motivated by disputes over oil investments, along with accusations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers already are diverting away from Venezuela.
US oil companies dominated Venezuela’s petroleum industry until the country’s leaders moved to nationalize the sector, first in the 1970s and again in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Compensation offered by Venezuela was deemed insufficient, and in 2014, an international arbitration panel ordered the country’s socialist government to pay $1.6 billion to ExxonMobil.
Maduro said in a message Sunday on Telegram that Venezuela has spent months “denouncing, challenging and defeating a campaign of aggression that goes from psychological terrorism to corsairs attacking oil tankers.”
He added: “We are ready to accelerate the pace of our deep revolution!”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who has been critical of Trump’s Venezuela policy, called the tanker seizures a “provocation and a prelude to war.”
“Look, at any point in time, there are 20, 30 governments around the world that we don’t like that are either socialist or communist or have human rights violations,” Paul said on ABC’s’ “This Week.” ”But it isn’t the job of the American soldier to be the policeman of the world.”
The targeting of tankers comes as Trump has ordered the Defense Department to carry out a series of attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that his administration alleges are smuggling fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the United States and beyond.
At least 104 people have been killed in 28 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from US lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and that the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.
Trump has repeatedly said Maduro’s days in power are numbered. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published last week that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Trump’s use of military to mount pressure on Maduro runs contrary to Trump’s pledge to keep the United States out of unnecessary wars.
Democrats have been pressing Trump to seek congressional authorization for the military action in the Caribbean.
“We should be using sanctions and other tools at our disposal to punish this dictator who is violating the human rights of his civilians and has run the Venezuelan economy into the ground,” Kaine said. “But I’ll tell you, we should not be waging war against Venezuela. We definitely should not be waging war without a vote of Congress.
