The tasks of the new EU Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue, Peter Sorensen, will be to facilitate the continuation of the dialogue process and, in particular, the implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization and its annex for implementation, which was approved in February and March 2023, according to a statement from the EU Council.
The EU Council, which appointed a new Special Representative for the Dialogue today, announced that Sorensen will take up his duties on February 1, 2025, with an initial mandate of 13 months.
“Today, the Council appointed Mr. Peter Sorensen as the EU Special Representative for the Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. The tasks of the new EU Special Representative will be to facilitate a dialogue that will contribute to the comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, and particularly to the implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization and its annex for implementation approved in February and March 2023. Mr. Sorensen will take up his duties on February 1, 2025, with an initial mandate of 13 months,” the announcement states.
In the EU Council’s announcement, Kosovo is marked with an asterisk (* This mark does not prejudge positions on the status and is in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1244/1999 and the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the declaration of Kosovo’s independence, as explained at the end of the announcement).
Sorensen is an experienced Danish diplomat with extensive knowledge of the Western Balkans region.
From 2011 to 2014, he held the position of EU Special Representative/Head of the EU Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he has also served as the EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation in Skopje and Geneva.
In the latter, Sorensen represented the EU at the United Nations in Geneva, including as the Union’s representative to the UN Human Rights Council.
EU Special Representatives promote the EU’s policies and interests in specific regions and countries, as well as in matters of special interest to the EU.
They play an active role in efforts to consolidate reforms, stability, and the rule of law.
The first EU Special Representatives were appointed in 1996. Currently, eleven EU Special Representatives support the work of the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Kaja Kallas, according to the announcement.
