Petkovic: Difficult talks with Bislimi, Serbia committed to peace

Speaking to Serbian media after the latest round of Belgrade-Pristina dialogue at the level of chief negotiators, Petkovic said he continued to insist on the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities, which, he said, is a crucial step for the life of the Serbs in Kosovo.

“Regarding the Ohrid Agreement, Belgrade will fulfill all obligations it has accepted, as it has done so far. However, there is a problem when you have the Brussels Agreement calling for the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities that they have refused to implement for 11 years. This proves that side is not ready to implement anything,” he said.

Petkovic added that European Union (EU) Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, with whom he had a separate and a trilateral meeting with Bislimi, announced plans for one or two more rounds of dialogue before the end of the year, which Serbia would attend.

He said he also tried to discuss continuing the implementation of the declaration on missing persons as Belgrade is ready to cooperate on this issue, but that Pristina had some comments and is trying to halt the process, clearly showing unwillingness to address this matter.

Petkovic also informed Lajcak that Pristina is violating its own decision to lift the ban on the import of Serbian goods, with hundreds of trucks waiting at the Merdare administrative border crossing between Serbia proper and Kosovo, and that Bislimi refuses to discuss Belgrade’s initiative on harmonizing veterinary certificates.

The meeting between the chief negotiators and EU mediator Lajcak concluded shortly before 5pm, following separate discussions between both parties and Lajcak.

Bislimi: No results

Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi said the trilateral meeting in Brussels did not result in any progress toward normalizing relations with Serbia.

“Serbia continues to insist on partial implementation, following the idea of ‘we do something, you do something,’” he said after the meeting, adding that this position is irresponsible and that the EU shares this opinion.

Bislimi noted some progress on specific issues, including an agreement to form a working group to select about 20 veterinary inspectors for Kosovo-Serbia administrative border crossings, and a request for permanent sanitary inspectors at the Bela Zemlja crossing.

“Mr. Lajcak informed us that Belgrade has made significant promises about activating the interconnection lines, which were part of the energy agreement, by the end of next month,” he said.