Belgrade-Pristina Meeting Shows Little Progress, Dialogues To Continue - EU Official

The second EU-facilitated dialogue to normalize relations between Serbia and the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo has ended with little progress, with parties agreeing to continue the dialogue, the EU special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2021) The second EU-facilitated dialogue to normalize relations between Serbia and the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo has ended with little progress, with parties agreeing to continue the dialogue, the EU special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said on Tuesday.

"The meeting was difficult, and it demonstrated very different approaches of the two parties to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia," Lajcak said in a statement.

The Monday meeting was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell among other representatives from the two states.

The leaders agreed to meet again in September. The parties also agreed that the chief negotiator would hold a meeting every month as facilitated by the European Union to address issues and arrange meetings when appropriate.

Lajcak further stressed that the European future for Serbia and Kosovo depends on the normalization of their relations.

Following the proclamation of independence of the autonomous Serbian province of Kosovo from the rest of the country in 2008, Belgrade and Pristina broke ties, but in 2013, the EU mediated negotiations to normalize them. However, the dialogue came to a standstill and was abandoned in favor of another normalization deal, brokered by Washington and signed by the parties last year. This also has not produced any tangible outcome. The EU initiated another dialogue process in March, but minor achievement has been recorded.