Chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia will meet in Brussels next week to discuss first steps toward the implementation of agreements reached between the sides during talks in the North Macedonian town of Ohrid, EU spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy Peter Stano said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2023) Chief negotiators from Kosovo and Serbia will meet in Brussels next week to discuss first steps toward the implementation of agreements reached between the sides during talks in the North Macedonian town of Ohrid, EU spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy Peter Stano said on Tuesday.
On March 18, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo leader Albin Kurti held 12-hour talks in Ohrid on the the European-US reconciliation plan with the participation of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak. Vucic told reporters after the talks that an agreement was reached on "some points" of the plan.
"There will be next week in Brussels the meeting of chief negotiators of both sides, Serbia and Kosovo, who were invited by the EU facilitator to come to Brussels to take forward everything that was agreed in Ohrid and to start and make first steps towards implementation," Stano told a briefing.
Earlier in the month, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar stated that the Ohrid agreement marks the start of the reconciliation process between Serbia and Kosovo.
On February 27, Borrell published the full text of the European Union's proposal, which contains clauses on the mutual recognition of documents and state symbols and Belgrade's consent not to prevent Pristina from joining international organizations.
As part of the plan, the EU and US leaders also insist that Kosovo Albanian authorities form a Community of Serb Municipalities complete with autonomy rights - in accordance with the 2013 Brussels Agreement.
In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia, however this still not recognized by Belgrade. In 2013, Serbia and Kosovo signed an EU-mediated agreement to normalize relations, but the dialogue soon came to a standstill. Tensions have been simmering on the border since mid-2022, escalating several times into road blockages in northern Kosovo and belligerent rhetoric on both sides.
