Kosovo expert: Framework changes needed for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue success

DIETER NAGL / AFP

Pristina publicist Veton Surroi said on Tuesday that the framework of negotiations for the success of the Belgrade - Pristina dialogue on the normalisation of relations should be changed and that both sides should be represented equally and "as independent states."

„If the framework of negotiations does not change, it will not produce anything. Negotiations must be led at the level of two independent states that want to establish peaceful relations,“ Surroi, a member of the Kosovo Government’s expert advisory group for the dialogue, told Euronews Albania TV in an interview.

He added that Serbia „does not accept the past, does not condemn war crimes“ and at the same time „demands that the Western Balkans be integrated into the European Union.“

According to him, the negotiations will have „minimal achievements“ and that talks must be on an equal level between Belgrade and Pristina.

Surroi described the agreement on the Community of Serb Municipalities as a „mistake,“ adding the agreements regulating the life of Serbs in Kosovo should have been concluded after Belgrade recognised the independence of Kosovo.

The agreement was signed in Brussels in 2013 but Kosovo authorities have not yet implemented it.

Speaking about the ‘Open Balkan’ initiative, Surroi said that there was „competition between Albania and Kosovo,“ while the „first sin“ was the belief that the region could be integrated without ending the conflicts, „disputes that Serbia has with Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.“