New Round of Dialogue between Belgrade Pristina Without Trilateral Meeting

The European Union’s special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

A new round of the Belgrade and Pristina dialogue was held on the technical level on progress in implementing the Ohrid agreement and other issues that affect the normalization of ties, but without a trilateral meeting in Brussels on Sept. 17.

The Serbian delegation, headed by Petar Petkovic, and Kosovo’s delegation, headed by Besnik Bislimi, met separately with EU envoy for the talks Miroslav Lajcak and his team.

Lajcak wrote on X that he regretted that, after the separate meetings in Brussels with each side’s chief negotiators, a trilateral meeting for solving the most pressing issues in the dialogue had not been held and announced that the talks would continue over the coming weeks.

Hosted the two Chief negotiators of Kosovo and Serbia and their delegations for separate meetings in Brussels today. I regret we did not address the most pressing issues in a trilateral format today. I remain at the disposal of the Parties and we will continue in the next weeks. pic.twitter.com/T5RL0q1RfX

— Miroslav Lajčák (@MiroslavLajcak) September 17, 2024

Petkovic said that Kosovo delegation chief Bislimi had refused a trilateral meeting with Lajcak and him because “they do not want to discuss the subjects that we proposed, primarily the question of creating the Community of Serb Municipalities.”

He also announced that he would talk with a NATO delegation in Brussels about the opening of the bridge over the Ibar in Kosovska Mitrovica that Pristina has been announcing. Opening the bridge, he said would have legal and security consequences.

Bislimi said that the Serbian side had refused a trilateral meeting according to the agreed agenda and demanded “that new subjects that are for political consumption be introduced.”

Bislimi also said that Lajcak confirmed that former Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic’s letter voicing reservations toward the agreement on the path toward normalizing relations between Serbia and Kosovo and its annex had not been withdrawn, but that “this is being worked on.”