On a visit to Kosovo on Friday 6 September, the European Union’s special representative for the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, Miroslav Lajčák, said that the letter sent last December by Serbia on its “red lines” for the implementation of the 2023 Ohrid agreements had been withdrawn.
This letter, originally signed by the former Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, stressed that the implementation of the agreements was “acceptable only in a context that is not linked to the de jure and de facto recognition of Kosovo”.
“The Republic of Serbia stresses that this determination to implement the agreement does not extend to the recognition of Kosovo’s membership of the UN (...) or to Kosovo’s so-called territorial integrity”. These statements run counter to the specific features of the agreement and the ambitions of the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue (see EUROPE 13441/13).
Pressed to clarify this statement, the European Commission said on Tuesday 10 September that it had “nothing more to add or to withdraw”, pointing out that the objectives of the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue were still far from being achieved, even though the two parties had undertaken to cooperate.
At this stage, Belgrade has not commented on the EU representative’s statement. The withdrawal of this letter and its red lines could herald a breakthrough in the unstable diplomatic relations between the two countries (see EUROPE 13473/10). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)