EU envoy Lajcak says Kosovo dialogue to continue this year

The daily quoted Lajcak as telling German’s Ambassador to the US Emily Margarethe Haber that he is waiting for the new Kosovo government to be formed to continue the dialogue. The time is not right to organize another round of talks, he said and added that the new government is expected to continue the talks in Brussels.

He said that the Washington agreements of September 4 are political statements signed by Pristina and Belgrade without an implementation mechanism and with everything depending on the good will of the signatories.

Lajcak said that economic normalization can’t happen without political normalization. We have to present the European model for the Balkans, he said. He called for greater EU engagement in the Balkans, warning that there has been no progress on the road to the EU. “The EU must realize that what we are doing in the Balkans is good for the region and the EU. Serbia did not open a single chapter last year and Kosovo still hasn’t gotten visa liberalization. This are all political, not technical issues. I expect the EU to act in that direction. If the region is not integrated into the EU system of values that means that the Balkans will introduce the system of some other global player and I believe that is not in the interest of the US,” Lajcak is quoted as saying.