"I would like to pay tribute to the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo for their courage and vision. I am honoured to have been able to contribute to this process,” Catherine Ashton, then EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in 2013.

The process she was referring to were negotiations between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo, which resulted in what is known as Brussels Agreements in April 2013.

She and then EU commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule recommended opening EU membership negotiations, with a Stabilisation and Association Agreement to be signed with Kosovo.

The agreement was deemed “historic” and “landmark”.