Lajcak warns invitation for Bisimi, Petkov soon in Brussels

The European Emisar for Kosovo Dialogue Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, has made a weekly summary of his agenda.

In a Facebook post, he wrote about Thursday's meetings in Brussels, where Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq had with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melon, European Council President Charles Michel and European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell.

Lajcak writes he welcomes the fact that Kurti and Vuciq showed readiness to implement the agreement, though they failed to agree on the modalities.

He says Kurti and Vuciq have had questions and comments, adding that he hopes they will be able to clarify them in the coming weeks.

Lajcak has also spoken of association, saying that they are seeking modern European options, but that association is not the only issue that needs implementation, as Serbia too has unresolved obligations.

According to him, the focus now should be on advancing implementation of the agreement without preconditions or delays.

“Sic clearly expressed three European leaders, formalities should not prevent this important process. With that in mind, I will invite chief negotiators to Brussels soon to discuss future steps”, the Slovak diplomat wrote.

Full Posting:

In the margins of the European Council, French President Macron, German Chancellor Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Melon along with European Council President Michel and High Representative Borrell and I organised EU-backed meetings, relief of the dialogue with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

The idea was simple to continue our discussions last weekend during our joint mission in Pristina and Belgrade and to advance implementation of the agreement on the road to normalisation.

What were scheduled to be brief meetings with European leaders turned into long-term negotiations shared with President Vuciq and Prime Minister Kurti as European leaders were due to leave for the Council.

I welcome that both leaders showed willingness to implement the agreement, though they failed to agree on the modalities. They had comments and questions on the European proposal for the statute for the establishment of association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo, which we presented during our joint mission last Saturday.

I hope we will be able to clear up open questions and concerns in the coming weeks.

Our charter proposes a modern European way to address the sensitive issue of minority protection in line with the best European practices and standards, and does not exceed the former <x0-> red borders of the parties” as previously defined. But this is not the only element that needs application.

Serbia too has many unresolved obligations from the agreement, and we should see that implementation progress parallelly so that Kosovo and Serbia can get what they agreed on.

The focus now should be on advancing implementation of the agreement without preconditions or delays. As the three European leaders clearly noted, formalities should not prevent this important process. With that in mind, I will invite chief negotiators to Brussels soon to discuss future steps.