“The High Representative and the EU Special Representative for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, will hold separate meetings with the leaders from 15:00, followed by a joint tripartite meeting. The meetings will analyze what has been achieved in the dialogue under the leadership of the High Representative and focus on the way forward,” Borrell’s office said in a statement.
It has also been announced that before and after the meeting there will be a statement by the High Representative, Josep Borrell. Borrell is expected to address the media after Wednesday’s meeting. The holding of the new round of dialogue was agreed upon during the visits that Lajcak made to Kosovo and Serbia last week.
For the last time, Kurti and Vucic met in Brussels on September 14, 2023, when they discussed the implementation of the Agreement on the way to the normalization of relations, but this meeting resulted in no progress, due to the contradictory positions of the parties.
A few days later, on September 24, a group of armed Serbs attacked the Kosovo police in the village of Banjské in Zveçan – in the north of Kosovo – killing a policeman. During the clashes that followed, three Serbian attackers were also killed.
Kosovo accuses Serbia of being behind the attack, but Belgrade denies having a hand in it. Since then, despite the West’s efforts, Kurti and Vucic have not met to discuss the implementation of the agreement.
This agreement – which was reached last year – has not been signed by the parties, but the EU says it is legally binding for Kosovo and Serbia. Kosovo demands that the agreement be signed, but Serbia refuses to do so.
The agreement of 11 articles, among other things, foresees a level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, while asking Pristina and Belgrade to also implement all previous agreements reached during the dialogue. .
The EU – which since 2011 mediates the dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia – has criticized the parties for not implementing the agreement.
