Belgrade-Pristina technical dialogue under way in Brussels

After his meeting with Petkovic, Lajcak is also to speak with Pristina’s chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi, following which a trilateral meeting is planned.

As announced, Belgrade has sent to Brussels the biggest team so far, comprising experts in the areas that are the subject of the negotiations, primarily the Community/Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, missing persons and energy.

Miroslav Lajcak recently visited both Belgrade and Pristina in an attempt to bring the two sides’ positions closer together, particularly regarding the EU proposal on defusing the situation and the draft statute for the Community/Association of Serb-majority Municipalities.

This is the first chief negotiators’ meeting since the September 24 armed incidents in the village of Banjska, northern Kosovo, but also since Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti “accepted the EU proposal” and asked that it be signed by both sides, along with the two unsigned documents - the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex - which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic refused, saying that the document offered to them “is a good basis for further talks.”

The calming of the situation on the ground and the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina are essential for both countries’ progress towards EU membership. A clear message was sent from Brussels that, in the opposite, integration into the EU will not be possible.