No further meeting is planned between the Kosovar Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, and the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, after they met in Brussels on Thursday 14 September without achieving any result (see EUROPE 13250/13).
“No further meetings will take place soon, because we know that the results will be the same. There is nothing left to negotiate, we have to implement the Ohrid agreement”, said an EU diplomat, at a time when a seventh proposal has been made to the two leaders to normalise dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
The two leaders came to Brussels with their own proposals. For Mr Vučić - who was finally ready to accept the EU proposal - the priority was the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo (see EUROPE 13174/20).
For Mr Kurti, who rejected the EU proposal, political issues such as the recognition of the respective documents and other national symbols had to be settled first. Furthermore, after the meeting, he stated on X (formerly Twitter) that only his proposal had been on the table yesterday, to the surprise of some diplomats.
“I’m surprised that Mr Kurti said it was the only paper on the table. That’s not true, our document has been there since July”, said a European diplomat.
The Commission’s proposal was based on 13 points. The first of these was designed to initiate the negotiation process on the status of the instrument of self-government for the Serbs in Kosovo. On the other hand, Serbia would also have needed to make certain efforts, particularly with regard to the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
The two parties would then have had to undertake not to intervene in each other’s internal affairs and to “refrain from any violence or threat of violence”, says the document, which EUROPE has been able to consult.
The instrument of self-management for Serbs from Kosovo would have been created and the structures administered by Serbia in Kosovo would have been abolished. The next stage involved recognition of national documents and symbols, before agreement on a binding roadmap for implementing the respective outstanding obligations arising from past dialogue agreements.
Serbia would then have undertaken not to oppose Kosovo’s membership of international organisations, and Pristina would have undertaken to protect Serbian cultural sites and religious heritage on its territory.
Groups would have been set up to carry out preparatory work prior to the “launch of negotiations on a legally binding agreement on global standardisation”.
“It’s regrettable and disappointing. They have done virtually nothing to implement the agreements. Both parties are in breach of their dialogue obligations”, concluded a European diplomat. In addition to discussions with the Member States, discussions on the subject are due to take place at the next United Nations General Assembly on 18 and 19 September. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)