The European Union’s envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajčak, has stated that he is focused on preparing a meeting between the chief negotiators, Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petković, in Brussels—another attempt after several meetings that did not yield results.
He mentioned that he would like to organize the meeting in the coming weeks.
In mid-September, the last meeting took place in Brussels, where Lajčak met separately with Bislimi and Petković but was unable to hold a trilateral meeting.
“I regret that I could not address the most important issues in a three-way meeting. I am available to the parties, and we will continue in the coming weeks,” Lajčak wrote.
Kosovo and Serbia reached the Basic Agreement in Brussels for the path toward normalizing relations, followed by the Annex for its implementation in Ohrid at the beginning of 2023.
Since then, the agreement has remained unimplemented, although the European Union states that the agreement is an obligation for both parties.
Kosovo insists that this agreement should be signed first, although the EU says it is mandatory regardless of the signature, while Serbia has expressed reservations about its full implementation.
The agreement, consisting of 11 articles, among other things, foresees a level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo, mutual recognition of state symbols, Serbia’s commitment not to block Kosovo’s membership in international organizations, and requires both Pristina and Belgrade to implement all previously agreed agreements during the dialogue.
Recently, the U.S. has urged both Kosovo and Serbia to take the dialogue for normalizing relations seriously.
