Bislimi-Petkovic meeting ends in Brussels without any agreement

It has ended without any agreement Thursday, as well as the new and fourth round in general between Kosovo and Serbia's top negotiators, under the European Union's mediation, on the issue of the Serbian dinar, whose use was banned in Kosovo in February.

Kosovo's chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi, said after the meeting that the Serbian side has come with no idea how to handle European Union envoy Miroslav Lajcak's initial proposal, “but they have submitted their proposal”.

Serbia's chief negotiator, Petar Petkov, said Belgrade “did everything to find a solution”.

“We came up with a constructive proposal and that proposal was praised by Brussels -- that is Lajcak -- as a very good basis for continuing talks”, he said.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Petkov indicated that another round of talks would be held next week.

On the other hand, we have Pristina, which has come to Brussels without commenting on EU ideas, and this clearly shows that the other side does not want to reconcile for anything”, according to him.

The EU's special envoy for dialogue, Kosovo-Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak, met separately with chief negotiator Petkov, and with Kosovo chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi.

Unlike past meetings, there was no trilateral meeting between them Thursday.

Lajcak had said days earlier that at this Thursday's meeting a temporary settlement “settlement for persons affected by the Kosovo Central Bank's decision was targeted.

On 1 February, a BEC regulation went into effect in Kosovo, which prohibits the use of the Serbian dinar for carrying out the payments.

On the issue of the Serbian dinar, Kosovo and Serbian delegations have also held meetings in the past, which have ended without any progress.

The latest round of talks on this issue between Kosovo's chief negotiator, Besnik Bislimi, and Serbia's Petar Petkov, under EU mediation, took place on April 4th. After that meeting, Bislimi declared that the parties still have <x0-seconds big”, meanwhile, Petkovic said Kosovo did not show “sufficient will” to reach an agreement on the issue.

In the preliminary aspects of the dialogue, the chief negotiators have discussed proposals submitted by them on the Serbian dinar issue. Bislimi has stated that Kosovo's proposal is “construction”, which, according to him, allows financial support “to go to final users, but without being hurt at any moment at the BQC regulation” and Kosovo legislation. Petkovic, meanwhile, has named the Serbian proposal for the dinar as the “balanced”, which according to him has the “interests of the Serbian people in Kosovo”.

With BEC regulations, the euro is designated as the only currency in Kosovo for handling payments. The introduction of this regulation has angered Serbia, which through its state budget sends financial assistance to Serbs living in Kosovo.

The international community has urged Kosovo to suspend the regulation so that it can give citizens time to adjust to the new practice.

This meeting in Brussels was held a day after tensions between the two states rose again, while Kosovo accused Serbia of blocking its borders with Croatia and Hungary bus-travelers from Kosovo and banned several Albanian and Serbian police officials, including a deputy Kosovo Police Director from the ranks of the Serb community.

Pristina said the deadlock of citizens on Serbian territory was due to the pro-Kosovo vote at the Council of Europe General Assembly, an organisation where the state intends to join. /REL

Lajcak's meeting with Petkov ends