The European Union’s envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Peter Sorensen, made an unannounced visit to Kosovo on Thursday, during which he announced he would be heading to Serbia’s capital, Belgrade.
During his second visit to Pristina, Sorensen met with Kosovo’s chief negotiator for the dialogue, Besnik Bislimi.
When asked about the purpose of the visit, Sorensen briefly told reporters, “We are working,” adding that he was in Kosovo as part of his responsibilities as the EU’s envoy.
“It’s a regular visit, as you can see. I’m happy to be here, and now I will go to Belgrade and then return to Brussels,” he said.
Kosovo’s caretaker government said in a media statement that Bislimi and Sorensen discussed the implementation of various technical-level agreements.
“The importance of initiating discussions on the implementation of the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Implementation Annex within the dialogue process was also emphasized,” the statement noted.
Earlier, Sorensen had met with the commander of NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR), Enrico Barduani.
KFOR said in a Facebook post that they exchanged views on the regional security situation.
This marked Sorensen’s second visit to Kosovo since assuming his role in early February and comes at a time when Kosovo has yet to constitute its Assembly or form a new government, more than two months after the February 9 elections.
During his first visit to Pristina in March, Sorensen said that his priority was to schedule meetings between the two countries.
“The dialogue is about ensuring that meetings happen. Whether that leads to compromises or not is up to the parties to decide,” he said at the time.
The last EU-mediated meeting between Kosovo and Serbia was held in Brussels on December 17 of last year.
Earlier this month, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU is reviewing the missteps made during the Brussels dialogue process between Kosovo and Serbia, in an effort to revive the normalization process between the neighboring countries.
Asked about the stalled dialogue, Kallas stated:
“What we are doing this month is an analysis,” together with Sorensen.
“What matters to us is the normalization of relations, because without that, neither of them can move forward on the path to the EU,” she added.
