Serbia, Kosovo in licence plates row

Kosovo is outlawing license plates issued by Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia (AFP) — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti will meet in Brussels Monday to discuss a vehicle licence plates row that has hiked tensions between the former foes, the European Union said Sunday.

The talks will go ahead amid escalating discord between Serbia and its former Albanian-majority province that risks becoming one of the worst regional crises in years.

The main source of tension is Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence which Serbia does not recognize and encourages the Serb minority to remain loyal to Belgrade.

In the latest development, Serbs in northern Kosovo this month resigned from public institutions in protest over the row on vehicle number plates.

The Serb representatives have since returned to Kosovo’s parliament but not to other public bodies.

Pristina has declared that by next April, around 10,000 Kosovan Serbs with licence plates issued by Serbia must replace them with plates from the Republic of Kosovo under a gradual plan involving warnings, fines and eventually road bans.

The dispute sounded alarm bells in the EU, which has been mediating talks to try to normalize ties between the two sides.

“The focus of the emergency meeting will be on finding a way out of the current crisis and avoiding any further escalation and tensions on the ground, with an emphasis on licence plates and the return of Kosovo Serbs to Kosovo institutions,” the EU said in a statement.

Announcing the meeting with Kurti on Monday, Vucic said he was not optimistic a deal would be reached.

“I will go there not because I believe that we can do anything, but to not give... a sufficient reason to blame Serbia for not wanting to participate in something,” Vucic told TV

Prva quoted by the RTS state-run broadcaster.

10,000 Kosovan Serbs with licence plates issued by Serbia must replace them with plates from the Republic of Kosovo.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell will meet with the two leaders separately from 8 a.m., before all three hold talks together.

Meanwhile, Kosovo police said that after warning drivers not to use Serbian plates, they will start issuing fines on Tuesday.

The action will target “all owners of vehicles that circulate on the territory of the Republic of Kosovo with such illegal license plates,” a police statement said.