Lajcak after Pristina heads to Belgrade: With Vucinciqi, we agreed on future steps in dialogue

The European Union's special envoy for the Kosovo dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, has held a “open meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq in Belgrade.

After the discussions, as Lajcak has indicated, they have agreed on future steps in the dialogue process.

“In Belgrade I had an open discussion with President Vuciq on the current status game in Dialog. We agreed on the next steps for the next” period, wrote Lajcak on the X platform.

Meanwhile, Vuciq said on Wednesday that normalising relations between the two neighbouring countries exists through implementation of the Brussels Agreement, citing the establishment of the Association of Serb-run municipalities.

Vuciq wrote in the Instagram that the EU, as a mediator in the dialogue, will have “a serious and responsible partner in Serbia, and for our people in Kosovo, we are supporters of the sumpromis”.

He added that he talked with Lajcak even “about the almost impossible conditions for life of the Serbian population, caused by continued pressure and arbitration of authorities in Pristina”.

Last year, Pristina and Belgrade accepted the Agreement on the road to normalising relations, which became known as the Ohrid Agreement.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, however, insists that the agreement be signed before the start of implementation, while Serbia has already drawn <x0 red lines”, claiming that “will never accept Kosovo's membership in the United Nations”.

According to the EU, the agreement is legally binding for both sides, even though it has not been signed.

Kosovo, on the other hand, has taken over to give the Serb community a certain level of self-awareness, which in practice implies the formation of the majority Serb Communist Association.

Lajcak was visiting Belgrade a day after staying in Pristina, where he met with Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi. With Kurt, who leads the dialogue on the political level, he did not meet because of, as it was said, his trip abroad.

During the visit to Kosovo, Lajcak called on the two countries to take steps to implement the Agreement for normalisation of relations.

Kurti and Vuciq talked about implementing the Ohrid Agreement for the last time on September 14, 2023, but without any progress, due to conflicting positions.

Lajcak would have to start his mandate as ambassador to Switzerland from September 1st this year, but he has said he has been asked to maintain his position by the end of January 2025, and has said that there is much work to be done by then.