The European Union (EU) envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said he was optimistic about some progress made on some important issues during a meeting of chief negotiators last week in Brussels.
The chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia, Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petković, did not reach an agreement on how to proceed on the path to normalizing relations between the two neighboring countries, but agreed on some other issues at the tripartite meeting with Lajčak on October 24 in Brussels.
On October 29, Lajčak wrote on Facebook that, although no results have been achieved on the way to the implementation of the 2023 Agreement, he is "optimistic that some progress has been made on some important issues, which we will continue to work on in the coming weeks."
After the meetings last week, Bislimi announced that the parties had agreed on several issues, including the establishment of a working group that will harmonize about 20 veterinary certificates used at border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia.
In the past, Kosovo has accused Serbia of obstructing the transit of Kosovo's goods and business through Serbian territory, because Belgrade does not recognize the phytosanitary certificate issued by Kosovo.
He also said that during the meeting, Lajčak informed him that Serbia had committed itself that the interconnection lines would be released by the end of next month, which was the energy agreement from 2022.
The meeting last week was the first tripartite meeting between Bislimi and Petković in more than three months, but they again failed to reach an agreement on how to proceed on the path to normalizing relations between the two neighboring countries.
After that meeting, Bislimi said that the focus of the meeting was to find a way to fully implement the Basic Agreement, which Kosovo and Serbia agreed on at the beginning of 2023.
"Unfortunately, there are no results for the main topic for which we met. Probably, Serbia still insists on partial implementation, so according to the system 'we something, you something'," said Bislimi.
Serbian chief negotiator Petkovic said that Belgrade "is not running away" from the obligations arising from the basic agreement, but that Pristina should be the first to go, starting with the establishment of the Community of Municipalities with a Serbian majority.
Kosovo insists that the agreement must be signed first, although the EU says it is binding on the parties regardless of the signature, and has previously accused Serbia of only wanting to partially implement it.
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