Lajcak mentions <x0mmines” on the road to normalisation: It could lead to a whole process of destruction

The EU's special envoy for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, said yesterday that the way to normalisation of relations is undermined and that escalation should be avoided.

We have a path to normalisation. But this road is mine and we have to avoid violating any of those mines. Because this could lead to the destruction of the whole process,” stressed Lajcak during a discussion organised by the Austrian International Institute for Peace.

Lajcak voiced hope that the process of normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo, which began in late February after both sides accepted the European proposal, will continue.

The situation in Kosovo is tense and has very little mutual confidence, he underlined.

The European emissary says that during the past year the situation was very close to escalation, but that this crisis was overcome with US support, EULEX and KFOR.

Lajcak said the last six months of 2022 were marked with crisis management and that negotiations have now led to the fact that Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti have accepted the European agreement for normalising relations in late February.

The formal signing of the agreement, with which he explained, Pristina primarily guarantees the protection of the Serb minority, and Belgrade recognises Kosovo documents, did not, because Belgrade does not recognise Kosovo, Lajcak.

“Vucciq has not been able to accept any ceremony in which Serbia and Kosovo are treated equally, and Kurti does not accept a ceremony in which to be treated differently by Vuciq”, the European mediator has stressed.

However, he says the document is mandatory for both sides, and now difficult conversations have to do with implementation, from sequence to deadlines for implementation of individual steps.

Already 2 May has confirmed the next meeting between Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti. The European Union's charge for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, has indicated that at the May 2nd meeting, part of the agenda will also be the first draft draft of the Serbian Major Commission Association.