Tomorrow's meeting in Brussels, the Serbian side says it will talk about association, Kosovo government neither claims, nor denies

Kosovo and Serbia's top negotiators, Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petkovovic, meet on Thursday in Brussels (16.11.), at the invitation of the European mediator in Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak. He was in Belgrade the previous day, where he met Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq. Officials from Serbia said that at the November 16th meeting, the draft of the Association of Serb Majority municipalities will be discussed, though the Kosovo government is not confirmed, but neither is it denied. Emisari Lajcak, after his visit to Belgrade, wrote that with President Vuciq and chief negotiator Petkovic, “discussed the road ahead in the” dialogue.

After my visit to Kosovo, I also traveled to Belgrade to prepare for this week's meeting of the chief negotiators. With Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, and with Petar Petkovjqi, I discussed the way forward in dialogue and the further steps needed for implementation of the agreement on the road to normalisation”, Lajcak wrote.

Vuciq seeks Association and expresses readiness for dialogue

From the office of Serbian President Vuciq, it is reported that after meeting with Lajcak, in addition to insisting on forming association, the willingness to respect issues agreed on within dialogue has been expressed. “President Vuciq noted that Serbia is always ready for dialogue, for respecting everything signed and agreed, and reiterated that our country is for de-pass, peace and stability, which are necessary to ensure the survival of Serbs in Kosovo. Once again, President Vuciq briefed in detail EU Special Representative on the weight of the situation Serbs face, both in the north and south of the Ibri, voicing hope that results will be achieved in the subsequent process of dialogue”, the Serbian side is said to have announced. Furthermore, “President Vuciq has insisted on the formation of the majority Serbian Communists Association”.

The new round of dialogue at the chief negotiator level in Brussels comes after Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, held separate meetings in Brussels with EU leaders, France's President, German Chancellor and Italy's prime minister. Scholz, Macron and Melon urged Kosovo to form the Association of Serb-run municipalities, while Serbia recognises Kosovo's de facto independence.

Scholz-Macron-Melon meeting as turning point

After the 26 October meeting in Brussels with leading European leaders, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that “was willing to sign the project for Association”. On the other hand, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, has described the proposal for Association as a good basis for continuing discussions, but has sometimes clearly stressed that, “will not accept anything leading to recognition of Kosovo's independence”, despite international demand.

The European Union's envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, was in Kosovo two weeks ago where there were meetings packed with representatives of the government, those of international civil and military institutions, ambassadors of Western countries and representatives of opposition political parties.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's decree of Association of Serb majority municipalities that has already been handed over to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has not yet been made public, and some of the opposition parties' representatives are demanding more details about the content of the draft state. During the recent report in the Assembly, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the draft statute for the Association of Serb Major Communists presented by European and American diplomats, “breaks off the non-recognitional legacy of the Republic of Kosovo”, which had been cemented, as “said in the previous 2013 and 2015<13>.

“In my political judgment the draft has a clarity as far as recognising the Republic of Kosovo as an independent state in which Serbs will live in accordance with the multiethnic aspirations of the Constitution and without any other damaging or undermining purpose for the Republic, in recognition of our sovereign state and territorial integrity”, Prime Minister Kurti said, rejecting accusations of the opposition he has admitted “Zajni”, as Kuci prefers to call it when it was in opposition, the 2013 Asoci Agreement. / DW