The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borelj, said during the new round of dialogue in Brussels that today it will be seen whether the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo are ready to take responsibility.
Since the joint meeting of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti began in Brussels, within the framework of a new round of EU-mediated dialogue, Borelj stated that it is time for the two sides to start seriously implementing the Agreement on the Road to Normalization of Relations.
"It is time to begin serious implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization. Today we will see if (leaders) are ready to take responsibility," Borelj wrote on the Iks platform.
Borelj and the EU Special Representative for the Western Balkans, Miroslav Lajčak, first spoke separately today with Vučić and Kurti, and around 11.30:XNUMX a joint meeting began.
The European External Affairs Service (EEAS) announced that the focus of today's round of negotiations will be the implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization between Kosovo and Serbia, on which Vučić and Kurti reached an agreement in Ohrid on March 18, as well as current issues.
"Difficult talks in Brussels have just begun," Vučić wrote on Instagram.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin (Aljbin) Kurti met for the last time on May 2 this year.
The responsibility for the violence in the north was transferred by the European side to Kosovo, because the newly elected mayors, Kosovo Albanians, entered the municipal buildings accompanied by the police. They were elected in the elections held at the end of April, which were boycotted by the majority Serb population in the north.
The local Serbian population protested for days against the newly elected Albanian mayors of municipalities in the north of Kosovo. Several dozen members of the NATO peacekeeping mission were injured during the protest. That is why NATO increased its presence in the north of Kosovo.
The dialogue was temporarily interrupted because the European side considered that this process is not possible without the complete establishment of peace in the north of Kosovo.
The crisis meeting urgently convened by high EU representative Borelj was held on June 22 in order to consider steps towards de-escalation, but on that occasion only separate meetings of the leaders with the Brussels hosts were held.
Low expectations from today's round
Tensions dominate every rune of dialogue at the leader level, so this new one will most likely not be an exception.
EU officials do not have a clear picture of expectations. Apart from re-establishing the dialogue as a platform where all outstanding issues would be resolved, there is little indication that this round will produce a concrete result.
The press release from the European External Action Service (EEAS) states that the topics of discussion will be the implementation of the agreement reached by the leaders in February in Brussels, including the annex to the document agreed in March in Ohrid, but also "ongoing issues", which implies the current the fragile situation in the north of Kosovo.
The results are more important for Pristina than for Belgrade
Kosovo has more interests than a possible positive outcome from the meeting, no matter how small the result, because it would trigger possible changes in the relationship between Brussels and official Pristina.
In mid-June, the EU introduced punitive measures against the Kosovo government for non-compliance with Brussels' demands: the complete withdrawal of special police units from municipal facilities in the north of Kosovo; the withdrawal of the mayor from these buildings and the calling of extraordinary elections for four municipalities in the north of Kosovo.
Calling for elections is now a key demand of European and other international officials. While the Kosovo side agrees to fulfill this request, there are different views on the modalities of applying this criterion.
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