Advisors to the German Chancellor and French President Jens Ploetner and Emmanuel Bonne and the Italian Prime Minister’s diplomatic advisor Francesco Maria Talo said in a joint statement that the EU proposal of a new and sustainable basis for Kosovo-Serbia relations needs to be brought to life with a clear implementation roadmap.

“The important negotiations to come are not about complicating what was agreed upon but about stipulating concrete steps for making it a reality. What both sides should avoid is trying to re-interpret their commitments,” they said in the statement.

“Kosovo needs to live up to its obligations towards protecting the Serb community including by taking steps to form an Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities and to guarantee a high level of protection to the Serbian religious and cultural heritage sites. Serbia needs to come to terms with the fact that Kosovo is a neighbour who has a European perspective and its own place in the international community,” they said.

Time is not on our side. And even more importantly, it is not on the side of Kosovo and Serbia. We need to act with a common sense of responsibility and urgency. A failure would have consequences, they warned.