Brussels, 02/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Kosovo believes that the dialogue it is developing with Serbia should lead to mutual recognition of the two states.
On Tuesday 2 December during a press conference at the European Parliament, the Kosovan minister for foreign affairs, Enver Hoxhaj, explained, “we should not continue the dialogue unless there is a clear objective and parameter which, for us, must lead to mutual recognition”. He said that this mutual recognition should involve the complete normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. So far, Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo's independence.
During a hearing a little earlier at the European Parliament, Hoxhaj explained that his country would be ready within 3 to 5 years, “to resolve all the questions still pending and reach a peace agreement… We hope that at the end of the dialogue, we will have a binding agreement that is acceptable to both parties, which covers the process of reconciliation and mutual recognition”. He explained that they needed to put in place all the agreements that had already been concluded and that this did not mean having to renegotiate them.
According to Hoxhaj, as soon as it is set up next week, the Kosovan government will begin the next stage of the dialogue with Serbia. He announced that his country had prepared a nonofficial document that included new subjects for discussion in the dialogue follow-up, which included the issue of borders, succession and pensions.
The Serbian minister for foreign affairs, Ivica Dacic, explained that the precise subjects in the discussion had not yet been defined but that they would be during the next discussion cycle. The minister said that “all the different subjects will be on the table” and that the international community was interested in implementing the agreements that had already been obtained.
The Kosovan minister also called on the five member states (Spain, Cyprus, Romania, Greece and Slovakia) that had so far not recognised Kosovo as an independent state, to do so.
Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson for High Representative Federica Mogherini, explained that the dialogue would focus on the normalisation of relations and that the EU expected the formation of the Kosovan government to resume meetings and assess how the dialogue could be relaunched. She pointed out that recognition of a state was not within the scope of the EU and was the remit of the member states themselves or third countries. (CG)