Bislimi after meeting in Brussels: Serbian side was only interested in association

The Serbian side was interested in talking only about implementing a part of the Base Agreement, establishing the Association of Serb Majority municipalities during talks in Brussels, Kosovo's chief negotiator said late Tuesday in talks with Serbia, Besnik Bislimi.

He and Serbia's chief negotiator, Petar Petkov, met on Tuesday with the mediation of EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak.

The only agenda in which we had to score progress was to discuss finalisation of the sequence plan. However, the Serb side has since become clear that they want to implement only parts of the Base Agreement, which are in line with their red lines. We've never seen those red lines. Petkov was not even interested in discussing the sequence plan”, Bislim told reporters after the meeting.

Petkov, meanwhile, named the meetings as difficult “, and added that he insisted on establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

Similarly, Lajcak held separate bilateral meetings with Petkov and Bissim.

The trilateral meeting began late after bilateral talks between the European and Serbian sides lasted over two hours, twice as long as planned.

Earlier, EU spokesman Peter Stano warned that urgent implementation of the Agreement on the road to normalisation of relations will be at the top of the agenda.

The deal was reached last year, but was not implemented.

She, among other things, urges Kosovo to offer a level of self-awareness to the Serb community, while Serbia does not prevent Kosovo's membership in international organisations.

For its implementation, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, were called to Brussels last week.

But Kurti issued several requirements for continuing the dialogue, including signing the agreement and handing over Milan Radojicic, whom Vuciq refused.

Radocic took responsibility for organising an armed attack on Kosovo last September where a police officer was killed.

He is believed to be free in Serbia.

The expectations of Bislim and Petkov agreeing to anything are not great.

Several rounds of talks between them for stopping the Serbian dinar in Kosovo ended in May without any agreement.

The normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is a condition for both to advance on the path to European integration. / REL