EU confirms holding Kosovo-Serbia meetings Monday, weekend

EU spokesman for Foreign and Security Affairs Peter Stano has confirmed the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia with the European Union's mediation.

According to him, a high-level meeting will take place Monday, while over the next weekend, at the expert level.

He has said that on Monday, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell and Special Representative for Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak will host Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbia President Aleksandar Vuciq in Brussels.

This EU spokesman has warned that, at Monday's meeting, issues dealing with “ancing for non-plenty communities and issues of financial and property requirements on the sides” will be discussed.

He has not wanted to reveal details about these subjects.

Asked whether to discuss the damages of the war, an issue that is often mentioned in the opinion by Kosovo officials, Peter Stano has said the idea of the meeting itself is to discuss all open issues between the parties.

Stano has also refused to specify whether the parties are right or not in their interpretations of dialogue, with the Kosovo side saying it is only political dialogue that will result in recognition, and that of Serbia that is not discussed for recognition.

“This is a dialogue that will result in a normalisation of the reports between the parties and that would conclude with a legally binding agreement”, this EU spokesman has said, adding that the often different interpretations and positions of the parties are part of this process.

“We are facilitators and not dialogue commentator”, he said at a news conference.

EU sources have warned that during the next weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, there will be meetings in Brussels also on the part of experts, who will deal with the issues of displaced people and economic co-operation, topics which were in order day in the last two meetings.

The goal is to get the sides closer to these topics and, possibly, agree, EU sources say.

Meetings in Brussels, this weekend and Monday come immediately as soon as they have completed meetings in Washington, between Kosovo and Serbia, called and mediated by the United States administration.

The dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia mediated by the EU resumed on 16 July, as it was interrupted at the end of 2018, when the Kosovo government imposed a 100 per cent tax on products imported from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.