The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, will meet in Brussels on June 26, to develop the new round of dialogue for the normalization of relations, which is mediated by the European Union.
The meeting was confirmed by EU spokesman Peter Stano. This high-level dialogue meeting will be mediated by the bloc’s high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, and the special envoy for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak.
The holding of the new round of dialogue was agreed upon during the visits that Lajcak made to Kosovo and Serbia this week.
For the last time, Kurti and Vučić met in Brussels on September 14, 2023, when they discussed the implementation of the Agreement on the way to the normalization of relations, but this meeting resulted in no progress, due to the contradictory positions of the parties.
A few days later, on September 24, a group of armed Serbs attacked the Kosovo police in the village of Banjské in Zveçan – in the north of Kosovo – killing a policeman. During the clashes that followed, three Serbian attackers were also killed.
Kosovo accuses Serbia of being behind the attack, but Belgrade denies having a hand in it.
Since then, the West has tried several times to convince Kurti and Vučić to sit down at the negotiating table to discuss steps to implement the agreement.
This agreement – which was reached last year – has not been signed by the parties, but the EU says it is legally binding for Kosovo and Serbia.
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.
However, the EU – which since 2011 mediates the dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia – has criticized the parties for not implementing the agreement.
Even during the visit to Kosovo on June 18, the EU envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak, repeated the request that the parties speed up the implementation of this agreement.
