The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said in Brussels that today's round of dialogue was unsuccessful because Pristina did not accept the European Union's compromise proposal on the path to normalization of relations.
"The talks have ended unsuccessfully, in terms of finding a clear path towards the normalization of relations. The EU said that things must go ahead and we accepted that proposal, although it is not at all easy for us, and (Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin) Kurti did not want it and so it is the meeting is over," Vučić told Serbian journalists.
Vučić said that the compromise proposal of the EU implied that the Union of Serbian Municipalities (USO) should be discussed first, "to see whether there is a credible process or not", but that "it is clear that Kurti is avoiding forming the USO" and that that "essence of everything".
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"If we found that there is a credible process, then we would start working on what our obligations are in parallel. They know that the ZSO must go first, but when you ask Kurti if he wants to accept the formation of the ZSO, you never get a positive answer." , stated Vučić.
He expressed his belief that the EU will be "objective and impartial" when speaking about it, and added that Serbia was a constructive and "responsible partner" to the international community.
Regarding the new local elections in the north of Kosovo, Vučić said that he indicated "that he will do his best to talk to the Serbs about their participation" if the Albanian mayors of the four Serb-majority municipalities resign.
"I told Kurti that the best answer is to go for resignations, not to start petitions. In the case of petitions, it takes 118 days to get to the moment of calling an election. That was deliberately invented to avoid the election process. But now there's no point in talking about it, those topics don't exist now," said Vučić.
He stated that "after everything he has seen and heard, he is even more concerned about the position" of the Serbs in Kosovo and that he expects a reaction from the EU.
Vučić also said that he pointed out at the meeting that since June 3, when the EU presented measures for de-escalation in the north of Kosovo, Pristina has taken "22 escalating moves".
"Even today there were such moves, in the municipality of Zvečan, they provoked, tried to intimidate people. In the last two months, during Kurti's time, there were 50 percent more incidents than in the worst year of anyone else in power in Pristina," he said. Vucic.
He also said that today Belgrade "raised the issue of illegal expropriation of (Serbian) property and evicting Serbs from the institutions where they work".
"I do not believe that progress has been made there. Kurti will have to answer to the Union regarding expropriation, and I do not believe that this is the case for emigration," he stated.
Vučić also said that he is not feeling well, that he "barely arrived" in Brussels, but that he is now going by car to Budapest, to the Demographic Summit, and that he will return to Belgrade tonight.
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