Brussels, 24/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs, reported on Tuesday evening 23 June that progress had been made in discussions between Serbia and Kosovo on energy, telecommunications, the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in Kosovo and freedom of movement (situation on the Mitrovica Bridge).
“Good progress was made on all issues”, she said in a press release, published after her meeting with the Serbian and Kosovar prime ministers, Aleksandar Vucic and Isa Mustafa. “Our teams will continue working on these four issues in the coming hours and we will reconvene very soon in the next days to finalise the agreements”, she added.
The Serbian prime minister was much more sceptical. “There is no prospect of a final agreement because we don't agree on many things”, Vucic is quoted by Serbian media as saying. “It's clear that on some issues we are closer to agreement but on others we are very far off”, he went on to say. He stated that progress had been made on the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in Kosovo. “Six of the fifteen points of the Brussels agreement refer to the Community. We have long insisted on this and our most extended, most serious and most difficult discussions were on this issue and progress was made”, Vucic said. According to Serbian media, the Kosovar side proposed that the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities be a non-governmental organisation while the Serbs want it to have executive powers.
Discussions on energy were “difficult and tense”, too, according to Dragan Vladisavljevic, director of the Office for Coordination Affairs in the negotiation process with Pristina, as reported by Serbian media.
A memorandum of understanding on the mutual recognition of motor third party liability insurance (car insurance) was signed on the sidelines of the meeting. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)