EU Representative Will Most Likely Get Another Mandate for Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue

Miroslav Lajcak (Photo: Dimitrije Goll)

The mandate of the EU's special representative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, will most likely be renewed, European sources have told Radio Free Europe.

It is pretty safe to assume that Lajcak's mandate will be automatically extended by one more year, a European official told RFE late on Dec. 16, pointing out that the possibility was on the table as long as it was being taken into account that a comprehensive agreement would not be reached by the end of his mandate.

Lajcak, who this past April took on the duty of directly dealing the the process of normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia, was appointed for a year. His current mandate will end on March 31, 2021.

Since Lajcak's appointment and the resumption of the dialogue, EU representatives have on several occasions reiterated that an agreement will be reached in a matter of months. However, since the dialogue was relaunched in July, Lajcak has managed to organize just three meetings at the top political level.

In the meantime, expert meetings have continued - seven of them have been held so far - and at the last meeting on Dec. 10 Lajcak said that the negotiations between the two sides in Brussels would continue next year.