Resumption of Kosovo-Serbia dialogue

After 20 months of pause, Kosovo-Serbia talks under the youth dialogue on July 16th 2020.

EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell had met with representatives of Pristina and Belgrade. He had received them at separate meetings Avdullah Hoti, Kosovo prime minister and Aleksandar Vucinqi, president of Serbia.

But Hoti and Vuciq also sat face-to-face to discuss dialogue at a meeting mediated by EU Special Envoy Miroslav Lajcak and European Chief diplomat Josep Borrell.

The latter, after these meetings, had said that the talks are good for citizens of both states.

I expect constructive discussions today in the first element of topics that will contribute to reaching the agreement on normalising relations. Encouraged both sides to approach talks with the spirit of compromise and pragmatism for the European future of the people of Kosovo and Serbia”, Borrell had said.

Meanwhile, EU Emisari for Pristina-Belgrade Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak had confirmed that this process would continue on two levels.

He had indicated that at a high level, as was the 16 July meeting, dialogue would continue after nearly two months, Klan Kosova reports.

After these developments, Kosovo government chief Avdullah Hoti reported to MPs in the Kosovo Assembly, where he said this was not a resumption of a technical dialogue.

The draft of the final agreement on two topics of the unemployed and economic issue has been launched in Brussels. There will be no and no technical dialogue. The meetings will be for mutual recognition and normalisation of relations between the two countries”, he had declared.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq, after the meeting, had declared that one of the topics of this meeting was the economy and war disappearances.

I'm not sure everyone understood that the economy should be discussed. Some came to talk about war damages. I refused and said there was no point to talk about it”, Vuciq said.

On July 21st 2020, Kosovo chief executive Avdullah Hoti had named Skender Hysen as Kosovo Co-ordinator for the dialogue talks with Serbia.

Hyseni had held his first meeting on July 23rd since he took that position in Brussels, where he was discussed with the disabled and displaced/debuar.

Serbia's delegation then led the director of the Kosovo Office in Serbia's Government, Marko Djuric.

On August 1st, Hyseni was headed towards Washington to hold meetings with senior US State Department officials and the White House with the aim of co-ordinating the negotiations process.

Hyseni, in Rubikko in Klan Kosova, had indicated that during his visit to Washington, the issue of dialogue with Serbia was committed not to procrastination.

On 27 August of the same year, the next meeting of experts within the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue was held, led by EU envoy for Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, who had also held separate meetings with representatives of both countries.

Kosovo's State Co-ordinator for Dialogue with Serbia, Skender Hyseni, had indicated that Serbia had unconstructive behaviour at the meeting.

According to him, Serbia at a joint meeting with the European Union's Special Emissar for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, has returned to the” Elements for which we agreed in principle”.

Serbia has made efforts to reopen the specific chapters of the comprehensive agreement we have agreed on in principle. All this proves the sorrow and concern that I've shown the project that Serbia intends to put on the table issues which have only one goal for the process to drag on and eventually slip into something we will definitely accept”, Hyseni had told public television.

While Marko Djuric, co-ordinator of Serbia's delegation, had said they have discussed the unemployed and displaced within Kosovo, as well as economic issues.

“We today fought here for Serbian interests through solving problems on the vital issues of ordinary people, and the vital issue of our people in Kosovo is to discover the fate of over 500 Serbs. Technical talks will be held again before the September meeting of political leaders”, Djuric had declared it to Serbian media.

US, dialogue developments and “Washington Agreement”

The Kosovo delegation leading Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti went to Washington, U.S.A., on 2 September to hold next meetings for dialogue with Serbia.

Before going to this meeting, Hoti had called for the Kosovo delegation to join representatives from opposition parties, but neither the LVV nor the PDK accepted this invitation.

It was Richard Green, US President Donald Trump's emissary for dialogue, who said there will be discussions at this meeting in the field of economics.

During this several-day visit, Kosovo and Serbia, on 4 September, signed separate agreements with the US on economic normalisation. Part of the signing ceremony were Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq.

The deal was signed in the presence of US President Donald Trump, who called it the historic <x0-day” on Friday (September 4th).

What was before the deal reached at the White House?

The sides have pledged to implement a series of already reached agreements, such as the one for the highway between Kosovo and Serbia, the one for railways and airlines.

Also, it is envisioned that Kosovo and Serbia accelerate efforts to locate and identify the remains of missing persons.

On the basis of the agreement, Kosovo and Serbia will join” the Mini-Schengen area”, which was established in 2019 and which already participate in Serbia, Albania and Northern Macedonia.

Kosovo, under the agreement, has also agreed that within a year it will not seek membership in international organisations.

Serbia, on the other hand, has also agreed that within a year it will stop the campaign to recognise Kosovo's independence.

The normalisation of the reports starts with air transport, railway and road.

As for Lake Weyman, the deal reportedly states that the parties will work with the American Energy Department for a feasibility study aimed at the common use of this lake as a reliable supplier of water and energy.

After signing the deal, the Kosovo prime minister had stated the signed agreement is a major step that will end with mutual recognition.

“This is an agreement that is a major step towards the full normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia that will be finalised with mutual recognition between the two countries. Good news has always come from the White House”, Hoti said.

While Serbia's president had confirmed that a bilateral agreement has been reached between Serbia and the United States of America in the White House and that the third Kosovo side” has not been recognised”.

” We have had a brilliant bilateral conversation and this is a big deal for Serbia and for me personally. We agreed on good things for our country. We have nothing to fear”.

The agreement was criticised by opposition parties in Kosovo: PDK and the Vetevendosje Movement.

On the other hand, the European Union stated that it is paying attention to signing the document between Belgrade and Pristina at the White House.

” We welcome the parties in Brussels this weekend and next week to continue our work in a comprehensive agreement on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia that concerns all outstanding issues about their relations and in accordance with international law and that of the EU”, said Peter Stano, spokesman for the High Representative for Foreign Policy in the European Union, Josep Borrell.

The meeting, held at the White House, was the second one called by Washington.

This was after the presidential emissary had planned to keep one on 27 June 2020, but the same one had been cancelled after Kosovo President Hashim Thaci's Office of Specialised Prosecutor at The Hague had publicly announced that he has filed a proposal for war crimes against then Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who was supposed to participate in the meeting.

Thaci, who did not attend the September 4th meeting, welcomed what happened there.

Brussels Meetings and Continued Dialogue for 2021

After 4 September, Kosovo and Serbian delegations held an expert-level meeting on 17 September 2020 with EU representatives for the Pristina- Belgrade dialogue.

Miroslav Lajcak had said that with Kosovo and Serbian chief negotiators discussing joint financial and property claims.

“We just completed talks today with chief negotiators Marko Djuric and Skender Hyseni on joint financial and property claims. Our discussions confirmed the complexity and sensitivity of the matter. It will continue”, Lajcak wrote on Twitter.

On 28 September in Brussels, a next meeting for the dialogue was scheduled to be held, but the same was postponed for an indefinite date “due to measures of care in the face of the COVID-19”.

The topic of this meeting was expected to be discussions on property and financial issues between the two countries. But, from the Serbian dialogue team, it was said that the Association of Communities with the Serb Majority was among the points to be discussed.

Asked about the association, Peter Stano, the EU spokesman, had said that “the issue of arrangements for the non-most community association/ The community should be addressed as part of the comprehensive agreement as agreed on at the first leadership meetings in July 2020 and reconfirmed in the last round on September 7, 2020”.

From Kosovo Government to I did. tv They had claimed that their stand is the same as that of Avdullah Hoti, the country's prime minister, who has said the topic of association is closed and will not be discussed.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq has said Belgrade is ready for talks with Pristina in Brussels and that the Association of Serbian Communists is an inevitable topic.

We're ready to talk. The Serbian Communists association is an inevitable topic and we will insist on it,” said Vuciq when asked by journalists whether there would be a meeting in Brussels on September 28th, following reports that the meeting might be postponed.

After a month of negotiations on dialogue, they resumed on October 29th, again at the expert level.

December 10th is the date when the last meeting for 2020 was held under the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, until the next meetings were held in 2021.

During this year, Lajcak had been visiting Kosovo and Serbia for which in an interview for I did. tv said “were extremely valuable for co-operation with all political parties, but also with international actors and civil society”.

“Visites have been important to me to listen to and understand ideas, desires, but also red lines and fears that Kosovo and Serbia” have.