Tomorrow's meeting of chief negotiators in Brussels, scepticism for progress in dialogue

On Thursday, the next meeting in Brussels will take place on 24 October, at the level of top negotiators in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

It is not known, however, whether there will be a trilate meeting or only separate meetings of parties with the European Union's special representative for dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak.

The Kosovo government and the European Union have not confirmed that there will be a joint meeting between Kosovo's chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi and his Serbian counterpart, Petar Petkoviq.

The executive says the focus of discussions will be the way forward in implementing the Brussels Basic Agreement and its Ohrid annex.

The need for the latter is also highlighted in the European Union.

European Union spokesman Peter Stano has said Kosovo and Serbia should move forward and achieve progress in dialogue.

The trilateral meeting was not held even in September, when Bislim and Petkov had travelled to Brussels, but had only met with dialogue mediator Miroslav Lajcak. Kosovo and Serbia have reached the Base Agreement in February 2023 in Brussels.

A month later, agreement had been reached on the Annex implementation of the agreement in Ohrid, North Macedonia.

However, the parties have not yet agreed to sequence implementation of the agreement.

In the Kosovo government, they insist on signing the agreement on building up confidence in the process of dialogue, while also demanding the withdrawal of Serbia's letter, which they sent to Brussels last year, where they had practically withdrawn from the Brussels agreement and the Ohrid annex.