EU, U.S. Officials To Visit Pristina and Belgrade For Resumed Dialogue

Josep Borrell (BetaPhoto / European Council / Zucchi-Enzo)

On Jan. 25, European High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced that Miroslav Lajcak, the EU special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, and Gabriel Escobar, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, will be visiting Kosovo and Serbia proper during the first week of February to help revive the dialogue between local political leaders.

The statement was made in Brussels following a session of the EU-Serbia Stabilization and Association Council. Borrell took the opportunity to "welcome Serbia’s readiness to engage [in] the dialogue" while warning that Pristina "at this moment, shows more reluctance to sit at the [negotiations] table."

"Together with the Special Representative Lajcak, we will continue to prepare a new dialogue meeting in Brussels. But this will only happen if both parties are ready to agree on positive results and concrete deliverables," Borrell explained.

Lajcak met with the head of Kosovo's negotiations delegation Besnik Bislimi in Vienna late on Jan. 25, after which he issued a brief Twitter statement: "Pleased about a concrete and constructive meeting on the way forward in the Dialogue on normalization of relations with First Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Besnik Bislimi in Vienna. Looking forward to continuing our discussions next week in Kosovo".

Talks between Belgrade and Pristina began in 2011, with the most recent round taking place at the highest level -- a July 2021 conference between Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic.