This bill puts conditions on U.S. financial aid to Kosovo. Basically, the U.S. won't send money to Kosovo unless the country follows through on promises it made in a 2013 agreement with Serbia aimed at improving their relationship.

Here's what Kosovo needs to do to keep getting U.S. aid: First, it has to set up a special association for Serbian-majority areas and follow other terms from that 2013 agreement. Second, it needs to remove special police forces from northern Kosovo. Third, it has to hold new elections for mayors in the northern region. Fourth, it must stop taking away private property that belongs to Serbian people living there. And fifth, it needs to protect everyone's right to speak freely about politics, regardless of their ethnicity.

On top of these requirements, the U.S. State Department has to write a report every year explaining how Kosovo is doing on these conditions and whether the situation for Serbian people there is improving. Essentially, this bill uses American aid as leverage to push Kosovo toward keeping its promises and treating its Serbian minority fairly.

BACKING the 2013 Brussels Agreement Act

Tenney, Claudia

Backing the Agreed-upon Compromises by Kosovo Imposed by the Negotiated Guarantees of the 2013 Brussels Agreement or the BACKING the 2013 Brussels Agreement ActThis bill limits U.S. assistance to Kosovo until certain conditions are met. Those conditions are<ul><li>Kosovo implements the conditions required in the 2013 Brussels Agreement, including the creation of an association or Serb-majority municipalities;</li><li>special police are removed from northern Kosovo;</li><li>new mayoral elections are held in northern Kosovo;</li><li>the seizure of the private property of Serbs in Kosovo is halted; and</li><li>freedom of political expression is respected and upheld for all ethnicities in Kosovo.</li></ul>The State Department shall report annually on the status of Kosovo Serbs and the progress made by Kosovo in meeting the conditions mentioned above.&nbsp;(The 2013 Brussels Agreement provided the first formal basis for normalized relations between Serbia and Kosovo.)