(Vatican Radio) Serbia's government has approved a landmark agreement to normalize
relations with neighboring Kosovo, prompting the European Commission to recommended
opening European Union membership talks with the Balkan nation.
However the
influential Serbian Orthodox Church denounced the potentially historic deal with breakaway
Kosovo as a "clear surrender" of what it called Serbia's "most important territory."
Regional
correspondant Stefan Bos reports:
The statement
from the Serbian Orthodox Church came shortly after Belgrade announced it had approved
the accord "unanimously" at an extraordinary session and ordered ministries to implement
it.
Serbia's parliament Speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic says legislators will
discuss the draft agreement Friday. "The parlament will gather April 26 to discuss
it," he said, adding that he "expects the Serbian government to deliver its report
on the negotiations in Brussels on Tuesday."
Prime ministers of Serbia and
Kosovo had already reached a tentative EU-mediated deal in Brussels last week. Under
the agreement, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership will get authority over rebel Kosovo
Serbs. In return, Serbs in northern Kosovo get wide-ranging autonomy such as an own
police commander and appeals court.
The court will be based in northern Mitrovica,
an ethnically divided Kosovo town with a Serb majority and ethnic Albanians in the
south.
Police in Serb-majority municipalities will be ethnic Serbs, but the
force will remain part of the Kosovo Police force.
In response the EU's
executive Commission recommended opening membership talks with Serbia while also making
a key step towards full EU accession negotiations with Kosovo. Both Balkan states
agreed not to block each other's efforts to seek membership of the European Union,
but Serbia is not required to recognize Kosovo's independence.
Yet, the
Serbian Orthodox Church urged Serbian legislators to reject the deal saying it amounts
to "indirect and silent, but still de-facto recognition" of the Kosovo state.
That
view was shared Monday by thousands of flag-waving protesters in Mitrovica, who called
Serbian officials endorsing the deal "traitors."
There has also been concerns
about attacks against Serbian Orthodox Churches and other religious sites amid ethnic
tensions in the region.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 with the backing
of the West. Its statehood came nearly a decade after the NATO military alliance forced
Serbian forces to end a crackdown on independence seeking ethnic Albanians.