Gabriel Escobar to attend Kurti-Vucciq meeting

So confirmed the American Embassy in Skopje.

The United States fully supports the EU facilitated dialogue. Escobar will travel to Ohrid, North Macedonia, to support this process”, the US Embassy in Skopje told REL.

At the meeting between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, the European bloc expects leaders to agree on the plan to implement the European proposal for normalisation of reports.

Kurti and Vuciq agreed on February 27th that there is no longer a need for negotiations on the proposal, and expressed readiness to work on the implementation plan.

On March 18th, EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell and the bloc's envoy for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, will initially hold bilateral meetings with Kurti and Vuciq, and later it is before the joint meeting is held.

Bilateral meetings are expected to begin early Saturday morning. Prime Minister Kurti has expressed his readiness to sign the European proposal during the Ohrid meeting, but Vuciq has expressed his stance that it does not fit “in his mind” to sign Serbia's “capitulation”.

The EU proposal aims to lead the sides towards an agreement on full normalisation of reports. This proposal also has the support of the United States, which has argued that “has no better deal”.

Escobar, during a media conference in Belgrade on 16 March, called on Kosovo and Serbia leaders to be constructive and flexible during the Ohrid summit.

The European proposal for normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia is one of the best opportunities to move the region forward and create peaceful conditions for all people living in the region”, the American official said.

Our expectations are that both leaders are able to listen to each other and that they will work to make this deal a reality. Think of the obstacles, seek ways to overcome them and leave the meeting, realizing that they will continue to work to resolve”, he added.

The proposal, whose text is made public by the EU, consists of 11 articles. It does not necessarily mention mutual recognition. In Article two of the proposal, however, it is said that the parties must respect independence, sovereignty and each other territorial integrity.

The proposal includes the parties' pledge to respect all agreements reached so far in the dialogue on normalising relations, as well as their commitment not to prevent each other from integrating processes.

Lajcak has stated that establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo is a condition for implementing the European proposal.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached two agreements for the Association in 2013 and 2015, but Prime Minister Kurti has repeatedly voiced against a single-ethnic association.

Recently, however, he has said Kosovo is dealing with the 15 European models for Association, which the EU has offered him.

The US and the EU have repeatedly called on Kosovo to establish association. Escobar said in Belgrade that forming association is closer than it was a month ago.

I can say that our talks with the Government of Kosovo are becoming increasingly productive and realistic. I hope we're much closer to this than a few weeks ago”, Escobar said.

The Constitutional Court of Kosovo in 2015 found that some provisions of the Association Agreement are not in harmony with the Constitution, but can be harmonised.

Kurti has voiced fears that an association with executive competence would resemble a Republika Srpska, as in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But, Brussels and Washington have said they do not want a Serbian entity to be established in Kosovo, just as it is in Bosnia. /rel