Failed meeting in Brussels: Kosovo and Serbia again differ “on important topics”

At a trilateral meeting of dialogue under the mediation of European Union envoy Miroslav Lajcak, they said they agreed only to some key “-less” issues.

Speaking after the meeting, Kosovo's chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi, said that the focus of the meeting was on finding a way for full implementation of the Base Agreement, which Kosovo and Serbia agreed to in early 1923.

There's no result in this. At the point around moving forward in normalisation of reports. Serbia is probably still insisting on partial implementation, so according to the idea, we do something to you do something\x1>, Bislim said.

Serbia's chief negotiator, Petar Petkovovic, said after the meeting that Belgrade “is not leaving” from obligations stemming from the Base Agreement, but that Pristina should be the first to start, starting with the founding of the Serb majority municipalities' association.

The essence of that Agreement from Ohrid is, above all, the formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities”, Petar Petkovic said, adding that it is “stylla” of the dialogue process.

Kosovo insists that this agreement should be signed first, even though the EU says it is binding on the parties regardless of the signing, and has accused Serbia in the past of only wanting its partial implementation.

The trilateral meeting followed bilateral meetings that bloc envoy Miroslav Lajcak held with representatives of the two countries initially.

Bislimi added that the Serbian side has said Serbia's prime minister, Milos Vuchev, has sent a letter to the European Commission, in which he emphasises that his state is committed to implementing the obligations that come out of the Base Agreement.

But, he stressed, Serbia must first withdraw former Prime Minister Anna Brnabiq's letter, with which it had come out against the agreement, to be described as a sincere Vuchevic effort.

Bislimi said that as a condition, he reiterated Kosovo's request that Serbia hand over Milan Radojici, who is charged with the deadly attack against Kosovo Police in the village of Banjska in the country's north in September 2023.

Regarding the establishment of the Association, which is one of Kosovo's main tasks in this agreement, Bislimi said his country would not escape obligations if the agreement is signed.

“cannot be insisted when, for this job, the new leadership of municipalities must first be resolved. I think some other conditions have to be met. But we have made it clear that at the moment when we agree to full implementation of the basic agreement, Kosovo does not escape any of its commitments”, he said.

In the EU, but even in NATO they are increasingly expressing disappointment over the current flow of dialogue, saying the process is not producing expected results. So has the Secretary General. NATO, Mark Rutte, expressing concern about this.

Hours after the meeting, Lajcak said that “discussed a number of important issues stemming from past agreements and we agreed on the next steps”, without explaining more.

What did the parties agree on?

Bislimi said he ruled out the Base Agreement, at other points “has had” movements.

For example, we have agreed to establish a working group that will harmonise around 20 veterinarian certificates, which are used for border crossings between Kosovo and Serbia, and also to require that the troops of the phytosanitary Inspectorate be permanently deployed even at the border point at the White Tree”, Bislim said.

Kosovo has accused Serbia in the past of obstructing Kosovo goods and businesses crossing Serbia's territory, as Belgrade does not recognise the victory certificate issued by the Republic of Kosovo.

The phytosanitary certificate is a document that confirms the delivery health situation issued by the phytosanitary service for goods health from the country of origin.

Meanwhile, he also said Lajcak announced during the meeting that Serbia has pledged that by the end of next year the interconction lines, which has been the 2022 energy agreement.

“We look forward to this to happen because it causes great spending and unnecessary waste to energy importers”, he said.

It was the first trilateral meeting after more than three months, as at recent meetings Bislim and Petkov had failed to reach agreement to meet together.

EU spokesman Peter Stano, speaking the day before meetings under dialogue, had said holding a joint meeting would depend on the will of the parties.

At the last meeting in September, Lajcak failed to persuade Bislim and Petkov to hold trilateral meetings, as they had disagreements about topics that they would like to discuss.

So far, bilateral meetings had usually been held between EU envoy for the dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, and Kosovo and Serbia's chief negotiators, but not even trilateral meetings.

The last time a trilateral meeting was held was the July 2nd meeting this year. After the meeting, however, the parties came up with diametrically opposed positions about what had happened at meetings.

The sides had accused each other of “of readiness for dialogue”. / REL/