The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, during a visit to North Mitrovica, said that there are no details about the announcement of a meeting of the chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia within the dialogue for the normalization of relations. But he said that an agreement already exists and it must be implemented on the ground.
“However, Belgrade does not recognize the agreement it has accepted. Now they have realized that this agreement does not fit the ideology of “Greater Serbia”. I think we should respect the Basic Agreement of February last year and implement it”, Kurti told reporters in North Mitrovica.
In February of last year, Kosovo and Serbia agreed on the Agreement on the path towards the normalization of relations, while in March they agreed on the Annex for its implementation. In the meantime, the parties expressed their reservations, namely Kosovo insisted that the agreement must be signed, while Serbia presented red lines regarding Kosovo’s membership in international organizations.
The European Union has constantly criticized the parties for not implementing this agreement.
The European Union’s special envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, stayed last week in Pristina. After the meetings, he declared that an agreement had been reached for a new round of dialogue between the chief negotiator of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, and that of Serbia, Petar Petkovic. However, he did not give any date when this meeting will be held.
On September 10, Lajcak stayed in Belgrade, where he met with the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic. He also talked with him about the continuation of the dialogue.
Otherwise, the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia has been blocked since September of last year, when a group of armed Serbs attacked the Kosovo Police in Banjska in Zvecan. At the end of June, Kurti presented some conditions for the continuation of the dialogue at a high political level. One of them was for Serbia to withdraw a letter it sent to Brussels last year, through which it expressed reserves regarding the Agreement on the way to the normalization of relations.
Last week, during his stay in Pristina, Lajçak declared that Serbia has withdrawn the letter that the then Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabiç, had sent to Brussels, writes Radio Free Europe.
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.
