BRUSSELS, June 26 () –
The European Union confirmed this Wednesday the lack of will for dialogue between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo after the meeting called to resume negotiations for the normalization of relations ended without a meeting between the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti.
The new round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina to channel the dialogue facilitated by the EU, after months marked by disputes such as Kosovo’s limitation on the use of the dinar and allowing only payments in euros, has ended without results, as recognized by the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, who failed to ensure that Vucic and Kurti had a face to face in Brussels.
“The normalization process can only move as fast as the two parties want, because it is about the normalization of their relations, between themselves. We cannot want normalization more than Kosovo and Serbia want. It is the parties that have to normalize relations between them, not with us,” he stated.
The head of European diplomacy has indicated that the three-party meeting, mediated by the EU, has been frustrated by the conditions that Pristina demanded. “Kosovo was not willing to have this trilateral meeting. Serbia was willing to do it. But it takes two to tango, and it takes two to sit at the table to continue the dialogue,” he said.
In this sense, Borrell has insisted that the key step now is to implement the normalization agreement that the parties agreed to more than a year ago in the Macedonian city of Ohrid, but which they have not applied and which includes the implementation of past agreements. , such as the creation of the association of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo.
Faced with the roadmap agreed in Ohrid that seeks to give shape to the pacts reached in recent years, the EU has been pushed to mediate between Serbs and Kosovars to resolve various disputes and controversies that have arisen, such as the controversy over license plates or the use of the dinar.
The EU focuses on this part and has thus presented a new proposal to apply the plan agreed by Belgrade and Pristina, which, according to Borrell, could not be endorsed by the conditions of Serbia and Kosovo for the application of the agreements.
“The positions of the parties remain very far apart as to how to implement the agreement and, consequently, continue the normalization process,” he summarized.
The EU has been insisting that the next steps in the talks be agreed upon to normalize relations and progress be made in the application of the agreements. Once the European positions will be renewed and after Borrell’s departure, other leaders will be the ones to facilitate the dialogue. between Serbia and Kosovo.
“It is clear that what has been agreed must be applied. The agreements are the basis of action, but the action has to follow the agreements,” the High Representative had indicated in statements before the meeting.
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