EU responds to Kurti, denies only he made proposals at the table

The next round of talks on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia has been held Thursday, which ended without any reconciliation between the parties.

Recalling that EU High Representative Josep Borrell has said that the EU has submitted the compromise proposal for implementation to go parallel, EU sources have said that since June, the EU's special envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, had presented a sequenced plan and so far had seven rounds of separate meetings with the parties.

Therefore, these sources say, Prime Minister Kurti's statement that his proposal was the only one on the table is “simply incorrect”.

The document, in which EU sources are called, mentions that implementation would be launched with “opening the negotiation process for the statue of instruments for self-enamination of Serbs in Kosovo“, meaning the Association of Communists.

In parallel, Serbia would no longer insist on the use of astrostic and currency or UNMIK participation in regional forums.

Then to complete negotiations for “The statue of self-aware instruments for Kosovo Serbs”.

The next step, under this EU proposal, would be for the parties not to interfere with each other's internal affairs and refrain from any form of violence, or inciting violence.

According to the EU, then the “self-information structures for Kosovo Serbs“would be established, and the structures managed by Serbia to Kosovo would be phased out and their transformation under self-information instruments.

This would be followed by recognition of national documents and symbols.

The next step would be the agreement for a binding guide to implement obligations stemming from past agreements in the dialogue.

“Formalisation of the statute of the Orthodox Church of Serbia in Kosovo” would constitute the next step, followed by practical arrangements for exchanging permanent missions. Serbia, after that, would not oppose Kosovo's membership in any international organisation, while Kosovo would complete its internal procedure for the protection of Serbian cultural and religious sites.

Also, under the EU proposal, a special working group, led by the European Union, would be deployed for implementation of provisions of the agreement. After that, however, the organisation of the donor conference and the preparation of projects by the parties would follow.

In the end, according to this EU proposal, negotiations on the legally binding agreement would begin for the comprehensive normalisation of the reports.

This document, in which EU sources are called, dates back to July 19th this year.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, met in Brussels on Thursday with the mediation of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU envoy for dialogue Miroslav Lajcak.

The meeting, which had in place implementation of the basic agreement on normalisation of relations, did not produce any results, Borrell said.

According to him, it was Kurti who refused to accept the EU proposal for the simultaneous implementation of obligations coming out of this agreement, while Vuciq agreed.

Borrell said Kurti insisted that it be formalised, initially, the de facto recognition of Kosovo by Serbia, while Vuciq called for the establishment of the Association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo.

Kurti “has not been ready to move forward with the beginning of a reliable process for establishing association”, Borrell said.

Kurti and Vuciq, in separate media conferences, accused each other of missing results from the meeting.

Kurti said Serbia's “provisionalisation of” for the formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities “has been transformed into the attitude of EU emissionaries”.

According to Vuciqi, Kurti, simply, “avoids forming association... that's the essence of everything”. / REL