Kurti returns dialogue with Serbia in September, rolls up sleeves for the foundation of Zajednica

Kosovo will resume dialogue with Serbia, writes Democracy.com.

Albin Kurti is pulling his sleeves to establish the Association of Major Serbian municipalities or Zaednica, as he once called it.

As European Union for Foreign Policy and Security High Representative Josep Borrell has confirmed, on September 14th he will invite Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq to the summit in the dialogue.

At a news conference in Spain, Borrell has announced that he and the Spanish EU Presidency are aiming at a meeting of EU member states ministers with the foreign ministers of the Western Balkans to analyse the situation in the region. He has said this meeting will be held in late September.

“On September 14th will hold the new high-level meeting in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, as facilitators, to seek solutions”, he has said after announcing the Spanish proposal for meeting with the Balkan ministers.

Borrell has said the enlargement process has been discussed with EU foreign ministers and has added that this process has taken a new turn after the war in Ukraine, however, has added that the process will be implemented “on the basis of” merits.

Last meeting Kurti-Vuchic was in early May.

From that time on, Kosovo's north has faced a time of tension, as local Serbs launched violent protests, rejecting entry into municipal facilities of the new mayors. The mayors, for the first time, are Albanian parties. The elections were boycotted by Serbs.

A few days ago, even the mediator in the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said that with dedication to implementing the February and March agreements, Kosovo and Serbia could make major progress.

I totally agree. We know what to do. We have the February and March agreement and can be implemented as soon as there is will and political commitment within several months”, he said.

Otherwise, the compatibility reached between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq, on March 18th in Ohrid, for implementing the agreement towards normalising relations between the two countries also envisions the founding of Zajdenica.

The 11-mother agreement made public on February 27th does not force Serbia to recognise Kosovo, but requires both countries to accept each other's documents and symbols, including passports, diplomas and license plates.

It also requires that the parties implement all agreements reached so far in the dialogue on normalising relations, including that of forming the majority Serb municipalities in Kosovo, which the government in Pristina has so far refused, with the argument that it could jeopardise the functionality of the state.