Serbia and Kosovo have reached a “free movement agreement” between the two sides after renewed tensions caused by new administrative and border rules imposed by Pristina, European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Saturday.

After EU-sponsored talks, Pristina agreed not to introduce from September 1 – as it had intended – residence permits for people entering Kosovo with a Serbian identity card, while Belgrade will cancel the permit it gives to holders of Kosovo citizens identity card, Josep Borrell said in a message on Twitter, Agerpres reports.

“We have a mutual understanding,” Borrell said in a statement. “Kosovo Serbs, like all other citizens, will be able to travel freely between Kosovo and Serbia using their identity cards. The EU has just received assurances from Prime Minister (Albin) Kurti on this,” he wrote.

In turn, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić agreed to cancel the permit that Belgrade required for visitors with a Kosovo identity card to enter Serbia.

In addition to the residence permit at the border, Pristina also decided to require Kosovo Serbs to replace their Serbian car license plates with those of the Republic of Kosovo.

The measures, which were due to take effect on August 1, led to a new episode of violence in late July in northern Kosovo, where the Serb minority found them offensive. Under pressure from the US, Pristina postponed the implementation of the measures until September 1.

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“Some issues have not yet been resolved”

Instead, on Saturday, no compromise was found on Kosovo’s number plate measures, Josep Borrell lamented.

“The work is not finished, some issues have not yet been resolved. I expect that the two leaders will continue to show pragmatism and a constructive spirit to solve the issue of slabs,” he said.

Belgrade never recognized Kosovo’s self-proclaimed independence in 2008, after a decade of bloody war that left around 13,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians.

Since then, the region has been the scene of episodic friction. Approximately 120,000 Serbs in Kosovo, a third of whom live in the north of the territory, do not recognize the authorities of Pristina, remaining loyal to Belgrade.

As long as the Russian offensive against Ukraine continues, “we don’t need additional problems and tension”, confirmed the head of European diplomacy on Saturday.