Today marks the end of Miroslav Lajčak’s mandate as the European Union’s special representative, and tomorrow the new special representative for dialogue, Danish diplomat Peter Sørensen, will begin his mandate.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have told Lajčak that the imbalanced approach to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue has negatively affected the process.
These statements were revealed after a farewell meeting with Lajčak, following his mandate as the EU’s envoy for the dialogue.
As reported by RFE, the meeting was held behind closed doors, and most MEPs were critical of the way the EU approached the parties in the dialogue and its overall relations with the states involved.
It was also learned that during the debate, most MEPs expressed that the punitive measures imposed by the EU on Kosovo, without similar measures on Serbia—especially after the armed attack in Banjska in 2023—have negatively impacted the dialogue mediated by the EU.
As a result, they once again called for the removal of the measures imposed on Kosovo in 2023 due to tensions in northern Kosovo, which is predominantly inhabited by Serbs, and for a more balanced approach from the EU.
Lajčak’s mandate ends today, and one day later, Peter Sørensen’s mandate will begin.
In his meeting with MEPs, he is reported to have stated that the EU must play a leading role in facilitating the dialogue and in its broader engagement in the Western Balkans.
During Lajčak’s five-year mandate as the mediator in the dialogue, the parties reached the Agreement on the Path to Normalization of Relations and its Implementation Annex in 2023.
