Escobar and Lajcak this week in Kosovo, Serbia

The two recent envoys have acted jointly in order to increase the likelihood of success in dialogue. In Brussels, several times have said joint commitment B The E-US has proved useful in convincing parties to reduce tensions.

Escobar and Lajcak on January 9th have met with ambassadors of NATO states with whom they have talked about the situation in Kosovo and the region and have presented ahead of them plans to continue the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, mediated by the European bloc.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels have warned that Kosovo and Serbia will soon be visited by France's special envoy, Emmanuel Bonne, and Germany's Jens Ploter, but has not been specified if these two diplomats will accompany Escobar and Lajcak.

However, according to sources, a broad reconciliation has already been reached to support the Franco-German proposal for a basic agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell has said that this proposal is “European proposal” and has the support of all EU states. The United States supports this plan.

According to sources in Brussels, during meetings that Escobar and Lajcak will have in Pristina and Belgrade, the main focus will be the proposal for a basic agreement and for organising high-level meetings in dialogue as soon as possible so that an agreement on this proposal can be reached.

As for a new meeting between dialogue carriers, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, diplomats in Brussels have not mentioned any dates, but have said that “is working to make it happen as soon as possible, and that depends on the will of both sides and their willingness to achieve concrete results”.

The European bloc's goal is to have Kurti-Vuchic meeting happen before the end of January.

The last time Kurti and Vuciq held a round of talks was November 21st, 2022.

Meanwhile, the topic of discussions during Escobar and Lajcak's visit is expected to be the latest tensions between Kosovo and Serbia that kept Kosovo's north blocked for 20 days at the end of 2022 Qaeda and implementation of agreements reached in the dialogue.

Kosovo is under pressure to start work on establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities, which according to the US and the EU, is a duty of Pristina.

During a visit to Pristina on January 11th, US State Department senior adviser Derek Chollet said that “Kosovo must fulfil all pledges under the dialogue, including the formation of the Serb majority municipalities” and that they expect the Kosovo government to put some proposals on the table”.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached two agreements for Association, in 2013 and 2015. But, Prime Minister Kurti has indicated that he opposes a single-ethnic association. Recently, however, it has not ruled out the possibility of the association being discussed under a final agreement on normalisation of reports.

Kosovo and Serbia hold dialogue with EU mediation since 2011. Pristina wants a final agreement with Serbia to include mutual recognition, meanwhile, Belgrade wants a compromise solution, without showing what compromise it is about. / REL/