Another attempt to revive the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia ends in failure
The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti and the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić were in Brussels on 26 June for a meeting of the dialogue facilitated by the EU on the normalization of relations. However, they held only separate meetings with the EU High Representative Borrell. The trilateral meeting was cancelled after Kurti presented pre-conditions that were predictably rejected by Vučić.
Why is this relevant
The failure of the meeting thwarts EU attempts to unblock the implementation of the ‘Agreement on the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia’ of 27 February 2023. This calls into question the efficacy of the process of dialogue facilitated by the EU.
Context
An agreement facilitated by the EU was reached more than a year ago, whereby the two sides committed to develop normal, good-neighborly relations on the basis of equal rights. However there has been no progress on implementation.
One of Kurti’s pre-conditions was the formalization of the agreement through signature by the two leaders. He also demanded the withdrawal of a reservation letter on the agreement by the former Prime Minister of Serbia, as well as the handing over of Milan Radoicic and his paramilitary group, responsible for the Banjska attack, to Kosovo authorities.
Radoicic remains free in Serbia, although he has admitted to leading a terrorist attack against Kosovo’s police in September 2023. A police officer and three Serb attackers were killed.
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