Montenegro to Seal Border Deal with Kosovo :: Balkan Insight http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/montenegro-to-seal-border-de...

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NEWS 23 DEC 15

Montenegro to Seal Border Deal with Kosovo

Montenegro is moving forward to complete border demarcation with Kosovo - which remains a highly controversial issue among Kosovo
opposition parties.

Dusica Tomovic BIRN Podgorica

A Montenegrin parliamentary committee has backed confirmation of the border agreement

with Kosovo and a vote on the issue could take place by the end of this year.

The Interior Ministry is set to begin a two-year process of marking the border line with
Kosovo.

On Tuesday, parliament's legislative committee backed the deal which the Montenegro and
Kosovo governments signed in August in Vienna, during the Western Balkans Summit.

MPs on the committee supported the agreement without any votes against, and
recommended parliament to ratify it as in accordance with the Montenegrin constitution.
Photo:Wikimedia Commons.

Opposition parties in Kosovo have been protesting passionately against the deal for
months, accusing the Kosovo government of giving away territory to Montenegro.

They demand the cancellation of the agreement, saying that the border with Montenegro set by the 1974 Yugoslav constitution, needs to be
officially agreed once again between the two countries.

The opposition says the government in Pristina has shifted the 1974 border to Montenegro's advantage.

But on Monday, the US State Department said that following a review of maps from the 1940s to the present, including those used by the
commission demarcating the border, it was clear that the recently-delimited border closely aligns with the border defined by the 1974
Constitution.

"The borders we have depicted since 2008 match the proposed border of 2015 in detail," the State Department said, adding that it had
reviewed the line of the Kosovo-Montenegro border prepared by the Kosovo State Commission for Marking and Maintenance of the State
Border..

"We note that conclusion of the border demarcation agreement is an EU condition for visa liberalization and represents an important step
in Kosovos path toward European integration," it added.

The Kosovo government commended the State Department report on border demarcation, expressing its "gratitude for the verification of
delimitation line".

On Monday, Kosovo Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci said the US report confirmed that the decision on border demarcation was the right
one.

The chair of the Montenegrin Demarcation Commission, Milan Paunovic, meanwhile said: "This agreement was made to mutual
satisfaction and former borders have been confirmed."

Paunovic said that in two years' time the border will finally be marked and a joint Montenegro-Kosovo commission will correct certain
parts of the demarcation line so that locals' properties and land are not split between the two countries.

Kosovo and Montenegro started consultations on signing an agreement on border demarcation in 2011. Montenegro recognised Kosovo in
2008.

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