13 minutes agoKurti and Vuciq meet in Brussels today
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, meet today in Brussels for a new round of talks on normalising relations. The European Union has already confirmed that EU High Representative Josep Borrell's call for this meeting has responded positively to both leaders. Kurt and Vuchy have met [...]
The European Union has already confirmed that EU High Representative Josep Borrell's call for this meeting has responded positively to both leaders.
Kurti and Vuciq have met for the last time in Ohrid on March 19th, when they have also been verbally hired to implement what is known as the Base Agreement, which should lead to normalisation of relations between the two countries.
But, after this meeting, the parties have interpreted their obligations differently, while the EU has stressed that they are obliged to implement all provisions of the agreement.
Failure to implement them will have consequences, the EU has warned.
EU officials have confirmed that at the agenda of today's meeting there are expected to be two key issues: adoption of the Declaration of Extinction and presentation of the first draft for establishing the Association of Major Serb municipalities in Kosovo.
“After these two topics will be seen how much can be discussed on other issues”, EU spokesman Peter Stano has said.
The EU has avoided answers to journalists' questions about the possible breach of Serbia's deal by voting against Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe.
The EU has only reiterated that the “parties should refrain from statements and actions that make the situation and the atmosphere worse for the progress of dialogue“.
“We expect the parties to be committed to implementing commitments”, Stano said.
The Base Agreement does not envision mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia, but calls on them not to interfere with the integration processes.
It also requires both sides to implement all agreements reached within the dialogue on normalisation of relations, which has started since 2011.
The agreement, which has been recognised earlier and as a European proposal, also has the support of the United States.
U.S. State Department Senior Adviser Derek Chollet spoke to Kurti last week, and Vucinqiqi about today's meeting and expressed hope that the parties would be constructive.
