Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi met in Brussels with the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak as part of the planned dialogue process meetings.
The meeting was held in a bilateral format. Regarding the absence of a trilateral meeting, the Office of the Prime Minister stated that the meeting was canceled due to Serbia’s refusal to participate.
“From its side, Kosovo, through the chief negotiator, had accepted to hold the trilateral meeting as scheduled by the mediator, with the sole topic of discussion being the way forward for the implementation of the Basic Agreement and the Implementation Annex,” the announcement said.
During the meeting with Lajčak, discussions focused on the sequencing and implementation of agreements.
“The Deputy Prime Minister reiterated Kosovo’s constructive and active commitment to implementing the agreements and the way forward, as well as Kosovo’s comments on the sequencing drafts, while Serbia has not made any steps toward this, primarily not accepting the agreement.”
Other topics of discussion included the issue of forcibly disappeared persons, telecommunications, IBM, and freedom of movement.
Regarding the issue of forcibly disappeared persons, the Deputy Prime Minister reiterated Serbia’s destructiveness, which is intentionally delaying the process by presenting new demands even after the final agreement.
On the freedom of movement, the Deputy Prime Minister informed Lajčak about the government’s facilitation of driver’s license conversions for citizens of the Serbian community and their support in this process.
Regarding the Iber River Bridge, the Deputy Prime Minister stated that it is “clear to the EU as well that there is no alternative but to open the bridge.”
He added that reports from the European Commission since 2014 state that the bridge should be opened without further delays. He said this issue has already been addressed and agreed upon in Brussels as part of the dialogue process and should be opened according to the existing agreement, where it is also considered a symbol of normalization.
