Lajcak meets with Vuciqi in Belgrade

Both leaders will meet on March 18th in Ohrid, North Macedonia.

Lajcak met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq in Belgrade after a two-day stay last week in Pristina, where he spoke with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and other political actors.

On March 13th, prior to the meeting with Lajcak, Vucic said he would discuss what can be done about normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

However, if someone is not willing to speak, let alone implement the Association of Serb majority municipalities, then it makes no sense”, Vuciq said.

The focus of the talks is expected to be the way to implement the so-called Agreement on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia, for which the two states have reached compliance on February 27th in Brussels, according to top European diplomat Josep Borell.

The 11 provisions document, which has been made public by the European Union, does not specifically mention mutual recognition, which the Government of Kosovo has said should be at the heart of an eventual agreement for normalisation of reports.

However, Article 2 of the proposal mentions that parties must respect each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The proposal also includes the parties' commitment to honour all agreements reached so far in the dialogue on normalising relations, as well as their commitment not to prevent each other from obstructing integration processes.

On 9 March, Lajcak has said there have been constructive and very important talks with Kurti on implementing the Agreement, and has added that the meeting has met its expectations.

After meeting with Kurti, the Slovak diplomat has said both sides should agree to the implementation annex, because the agreement will not be legally binding without it.

On March 10th, Lajcak has said he believes the agreement will be implemented in part, if not fully, and that harmonisation “a good portion of the guide's” would constitute success.

On 9 March, Vucic has said Lajcak will stay in Belgrade until Wednesday to negotiate towards normalisation.

A day later, Vuciq has reiterated that he will not recognise Kosovo's independence and that “has no clear” on what Lajcak will discuss.

Kosovo and Serbia have started negotiations mediated by the European Union in 2011.

For now, both countries have different goals for the final agreement.

Kosovo insists on mutual recognition, Serbia seeks compromise solutions.