The European Commission has confirmed that a meeting will be held between the chief negotiators from Serbia and Kosovo on Tuesday 17 September in Brussels, as part of the Pristina-Belgrade Dialogue.
This meeting, like previous ones, should enable progress to be made on implementing the Ohrid agreements and normalising relations between the two former Soviet republics. However, the Commission has not said whether this meeting will be attended by the EU Special Representative for the Dialogue Miroslav Lajčák.
However, the meeting agenda also includes a discussion of the recent upsurge in tensions between the two countries, linked to a unilateral decision by Kosovo to close several institutions working with the country's Serb ethnic minority at the beginning of September (see EUROPE 13473/10).
At the time, the EU condemned an action that could “aggravate an already difficult situation” and pointed out that Kosovo had nevertheless undertaken to “avoid any action likely to harm the safety of individuals”.
As for the last meeting between the Serbian and Kosovar heads of state, held in June under the aegis of the EU, it did not lead to any significant progress (see EUROPE 13441/13). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)