hearing<\/a> at the US Senate Foreign Relations titled\u00a0 ‘Western Balkans: Supporting peace and progress’ where special emphasis was placed on Russian and Chinese threats in the region.<\/p>\nEscobar, who visited Kosovo and Serbia earlier in the month, said that the US strongly supports the dialogue mediated by the European Union as the place where both sides, as equals, should work to resolve their differences and reach an inclusive deal.<\/p>\n
He also said that the United States supports the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, one of the topics contested by Kosovo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support the formation of the Association for many reasons. One is, it is already agreed to. And even though the Constitutional Court ruled that some parts of the proposal were inconsistent with the Constitution it did not say that the Association itself is unconstitutional. So, in the dialogue, within the context of the dialogue, it is up to Kosovo and Serbia to decide how would that look. So, it doesn\u2019t have to be, and we certainly don\u2019t want it to be similar to Republika Srpska but we have urged and my counterpart, Miroslav Lajcak, has urged the Kosovar government to look at models that they believe would be compatible with them and that would not undermine their sovereignty or their functionality\u201d<\/p>\n