Lajcak: Kosovo is finally expected to move forward, we expect the establishment of association to begin at the beginning of the year

The European Union's envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, has specifically spoken of the Association of Serb majority municipalities and some progress achieved in this direction in an interview for the Serbian media, “Politika”.

Lajcak said that it is expected that “Kosovo will finally move forward” towards establishing the Association, and Serbia parallelly “fulfilled the essential parts of its obligations under the” agreement. He said implementation could not be an endless process and that they expect the foundation of association to begin at the beginning of 2024

“Discutions for their steps and actions and rankings are continuing and we expect the parties to reach an agreement soon so that implementation can finally begin. It is clear, however, that while Kosovo is finally expected to move forward with the establishment of the Serbian majority municipalities' Association/Unitivity, Serbia is expected to meet in parallel the essential parts of its obligations under the agreement. This process should be transparent and fair”, Lajcak said when he expects dialogue to resume and what has been discussed at recent separate meetings with key negotiators Besnik Bislimi and Petar Petkovic.

Lajcak said that additional “talks” of December have had some “certain advances”, while adding that he expects progress to be made in 2024 in implementing the agreement.

“In mid-December, I have held additional talks with both sides on a range of issues, including implementation of the Agreement on the road towards normalisation and its annex, as well as additional questions on clarification of the European draft status reform for the creation of a union/community association. We also discussed a series of specific issues in the dialogue, including missing persons, energy and license plates. There have been some progress on these issues. The talks are continuing and I expect that early in 2024 we will achieve progress in implementing the Agreement on the road to normalisation, provided both sides show the necessary political will, courage and leadership to do so”, the European diplomat said.

Emisari said that in October, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq “in principle accepted the European draft status at a meeting with the French president, German Chancellor, Italian prime minister, as well as European Council president and senior representative in Brussels”.

“was also found to need additional work in the statute before implementation begins. This is a clear step forward, and unlike the past years, we are now actively discussing the creation of an association/community based on the proposal we presented. We have already had two rounds of expert-level talks with Serbia for the draft-state and have managed to clear up some misunderstandings and answer certain questions, but we have not covered all issues yet. Since the European draft state contains many detailed provisions for a wide range of topics, we will have to continue these discussions after the holidays. However, this cannot be an endless process and we expect the implementation of the agreement and the establishment of association/community to begin at the beginning of 2024”, Lajcak said.

Lajcak said the situation in Kosovo's north is <x0 sensitive/ fragile”, while adding that “cannot have escalation, tensions and progress in normalising relations at the same time”. Emisari said the EU will monitor the situation.

The “all agree that citizens of northern Kosovo, whether they are from the majority or non-communal community, should enjoy the benefits of rule of law and good governance. Many of these issues would be channeled and managed through association. That is another reason why it is urgent that the community be created without delay”, Lajcak said.

The diplomat stressed that “dialog cannot be bypassed” because “is the only platform for resolving all open issues and potential sources of friction between Kosovo and Serbia”. Here, he cited recent official statements by the European Union and the conclusions of the European Council.