What's expected to happen at Kosovo meeting Serbia at the White House

Richard Greenell, special envoy of President Donald Trump for Kosovo talks Serbia, said the parties will meet on June 27th, after having received <x0-maybs due to the governments of Kosovo and Serbia temporarily suspend the recognition and membership requirements campaign in international organisations”.

The U.S. positioning and invitation for the 27th meeting at the White House raises hope, optimism and belief that this process will succeed. The first, since this process has clear US support, of President Trump, as well as tenacity, but also of Ambassador Grenelli”'s vision, said President Thaci.

He said it is the first time such a meeting is organised by the United States to the White House, and this is a moment to be exploited.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that there will be no recognition of Kosovo at the meeting in Washington, while warning, as he said, some other important meetings, but without specifying what meetings are being discussed.

Analysts say Washington's meeting is very important and that American commitment must be used to find a solution between Kosovo and Serbia.

The Balkan Group's executive director for policy drafting, Naim Rashit, says the meeting at the White House will be a real test for Kosovo and Serbia.

“I believe that a framework of principle is being required to seek an agreement which will be a non-independent agreement, because it will not be achieved by autumn, but that it will contain most principles and that will have its economic component through the agreements regarding transport and economic investments”, he said.

Analyst Ilir Ibrahimi told Voice of America that this meeting is a good sign and unblocks talks after a long time.

I believe that at the next meeting we will have in Washington, there will probably be a reconciliation about the fundamental principles that would lead to an eventual agreement within this year as it is said, so what are Kosovo's expectations, what Serbia's expectations and what are US expectations. I believe we will have another presentation from President Trump. It has been warned that President Trump welcomes a peace summit between Kosovo and Serbia at the White House, but I do not believe there will be an agreement on this visit, because it is early and cannot be thought that, at a meeting, an agreement will be reached between the parties that have been at odds for so long”, he said.

Mr. Ibrahim says the agreement should certainly include mutual recognition, but according to him if both sides agree on border correction, the American administration would agree.

“We should see our interest in what a possible correction of the borders brings us and would put Kosovo on the line where it would become an equal part of states and not have a Serbia that in every step of ours oppose and fight us. This has shown that Kosovo is doing much harm and I don't see that in the near future we will be in a better position than Serbia in these international relations, said Mr. Ibrahimi.

The summit's warning reopened debates on the possibility of being discussed touching both countries' borders.

Former Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, whose government was brought down due to disagreements over the negotiation process with Serbia, wrote Tuesday that “earlier than dialogue as the process, this seems like a one-day meeting where agreements are served”.

President Thaci dismissed any possibility of Washington discussing Kosovo's borders.

“under no circumstances is claimed by nobody or Washington to violate the country's territorial integrity, and I invite everyone not to spread dezinforms for exchange of territories or for something”, he said.

The warning of the meeting by US special envoy Richard Green took place at the same time that the European Union launched its special envoy Miroslav Lajcak to try to resume suspended talks between the two countries in the region. Mr Lajcak arrived in Pristina in the afternoon and has started meetings with Kosovo leaders, including President Thaci, who had declared he has no reason to meet with him unless there is anything concrete.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said Mr. Lajcak is in the region even more of the proposal for the time of Kosovo meetings Serbia.

“We are always positive towards any initiative taken in order to help the negotiation process between Serbia and Kosovo that is certainly relieved by the European Union”, said Mr. Stano, underlining that European Union envoy Miroslav Lajcak will also propose the dates of future meetings during the visit to the region.

Analyst Mr. Rashit says that until today, there is not a visible co-ordination between the United States and the European Union for the talks, and that the processes will depend on the June 27th meeting.

The “and how these processes will go will largely depend on what will happen at the June 27th meeting at the White House. If the White House sets up a framework for dialogue, for the Kosovo-Serbia agreement, I believe it becomes incapacitated and becomes the only form of dialogue in which other activists would then have to re-evaluate or divide the process at different levels”, he said.

Talks between Kosovo and Serbia are expected to resume after a long suspension of them, and the June 27th meeting, observers say, could clarify the course of the process that began in 2011 with the EU's mediation, but failed to ensure normalisation between the two countries. / VOA