Unfortunately, there was no progress made on normalisation and de-escalation in the north of Kosovo during today’s high-level meeting in Brussels between President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, as stated in a press statement by High Representative of the Union Josep Borrell.
According to Borrell, Kosovo expressed a preference for resolving the issue of de facto recognition from Serbia before proceeding, while Serbia preferred to initiate the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities first, before fulfilling its obligations. The EU suggested that these processes occur simultaneously. President Vučić ultimately agreed to the EU proposal, but Albin Kurti was not prepared to proceed with the establishment of the Association at that time.
The High Representative of the Union kindly reminded the parties that during a meeting in Ohrid in March, they had agreed to fulfil all their respective obligations arising from the agreement reached in Brussels in February and its annexe.
“After six months, only three elements have been addressed: the declaration on missing persons, the representation within the management team of the association/community statute (for municipalities with a Serb majority) and the declaration of the joint monitoring committee. But the implementation of the most important points has not yet begun,” Borrell said.
According to him, this is quite unfortunate and it strongly suggests that the parties may not be fully committed to normalizing relations, or perhaps there is a lack of commitment altogether.
