Lajcak towards ending the mandate, EU tells whether to extend the mandate

“Once the EU Council makes a decision, we will make it official”, EU spokesman Peter Stano told Tanjug.

Stano explained that the standard procedure for all EU special representatives whose mandate is extended extends with the suggestion of the EU diplomacy chief and in consultation with member states.

That, he said, is in question.

The procedure to renew the mandate of the special representative, Miroslav Lajcak, in no way contributes to the continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which is under the auspices of the EU”, Stano concluded.

In early April 2020, EU foreign ministers, with the suggestion of EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, appointed Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak as special EU representatives for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

The mandate was set in a year, and the focus remained on reaching an agreement on comprehensive normalisation of relations between Pristina and Belgrade

After initial reports that the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia “will last for months, not for years”, Miroslav Lajcak estimated at the end of 2020 that there is still a “long road” to the final agreement between the two states and indirectly hinting that at least one more mandate would be required to do that job.

In Brussels, the EU's special representative works daily in the continuation of the dialogue process, which should be held after the elections and forming of the government in Pristina.