Josep Borrell (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
Speaking ahead of a meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti in Brussels on June 26, EU High Representative Josep Borrell said that he “has been investing effort to ensure the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo result in a workable solution” for implementation of the Ohrid Agreement.
It was now crucial, because the EU member states were considering his proposal for at least gradual lifting of sanctions against Kosovo, Borrell told reporters on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg.
“And that may lead to a scenario where the dialogue, and I am not saying that it will resume, but will not be flagrantly discontinued,” Borrell said, adding that he did not wish to see Vucic-Kurti meetings within the dialogue process being discontinued while he was at helm of the European External Action Service (EEAS).
The EU high representative said that Pristina and Belgrade “for one reason or the other have not be able to implement this agreement,” adding he had made it clear that “it is now necessary to resume high-level meetings to see where we are.”
On June 26, Borrell and Miroslav Lajcak, EU special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, will first have separate meetings with Vucic and Kurti, followed by a joint trilateral meeting, according to an announcement by EEAS.
After the June 24 meeting of foreign ministers of the EU and the Western Balkan countries in Luxembourg, Borrell said that alignment with EU common foreign and security policy was an expression of strategic choice and commitment to EU membership, while maintaining close ties with the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin was not compatible with building a joint future with and within the EU.
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