Brussels, 03/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton has announced that she will again meet the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo - Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaçi respectively - on Thursday 5 December.
“We will discuss how to take forward the remaining implementation issues of the April agreement”, Ashton stated in a press release. Issues relating to the association of municipalities, justice and the police in the north Kosovo are expected to be addressed.
At the General Affairs Council on 17 December, Ashton will present her report on the dialogue between the Serbian and Kosovan authorities. During this Council, the date could also be decided for the intergovernmental conference during which the negotiations with Serbia will be opened.
Ashton hails the elections. Ashton also said she was “very pleased” that the second round of voting in the municipal elections on 1 December in Kosovo went smoothly, and she congratulated the voters on their turn-out. “These elections are crucial for Kosovo's future and for the process of normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia”, she said. The nationalist parties carried the vote in Pristina and Mitrovica.
Ashton thanked the OSCE for their “relentless” efforts in facilitating the elections in the north of Kosovo, and she thanked the EU Observation Mission for their “hard work”. (CG/transl.fl)