The European Union Special Representative for the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, Miroslav Lajčák, announced significant (“full progress”) in the bilateral talks promoted by the EU on Monday 7 September, following a new meeting between the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, and the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić.
“We spoke about economic cooperation and missing and displaced persons” – topics that had already been discussed at the previous meeting, “and I am happy to announce that we made full progress on the discussions”, he told the press.
The meeting was also an opportunity to discuss, for the first time, the issue of non-majority community arrangements and the settlement of mutual financial/asset claims, two subjects that are “very sensitive and important for future relations and for the daily lives” of Kosovars and Serbs, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell had warned just before the talks. On these two points, Mr Lajčák said that the first exchange had made it possible to define the next steps in the discussion and that these subjects would be addressed at the next meeting, which he said should be held before the end of the month.
In the meantime, discussions at the technical level will be held as early as next week.
The EU Special Representative expressed his satisfaction with the discussions. While stressing that the discussions had been intense, he welcomed the willingness of both sides to make progress in the discussions despite the complexity and difficulty of the issues. Mr Lajčák considered it important for the two leaders to have confirmed that the European integration of their countries was a top priority and their willingness to continue the dialogue facilitated by the EU.
There was a significant reminder of this when Messrs Hoti and Vučić were in Washington last week, where they signed a series of agreements.
Although, according to the spokesman for the European External Action Service, the EU had been warned about the economic issues discussed in the White House, it had not been warned about the other issues. One of them, which is controversial, concerns the opening of the Serbian and Kosovar embassies in Jerusalem.
Mr Borrell, without specifically mentioning this point, recalled that both sides had “committed themselves to ensuring further EU alignment in accordance with their respective obligations”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)