During the press conference on additional measures for managing migration along the Central Mediterranean route, ahead of the Malta Summit, the EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini, answered also on the questions how she sees the follow-up of Tuesday’s talks between Pristina and Belgrade, if there are some concrete plans for follow-up and why did she issue an additional statement the next morning regretting that not everybody respected the spirit of the agreement to refrain from comments and leave the tensions behind. She was asked why was such a statement necessary, to whom and to what was she actually referring
“I thank you for the question because, as always, the Dialogue finished yesterday very late. So I think it is a good opportunity to share first-hand the results of that meeting. First of all, I would like to say that it was a meeting that I convened because the tensions were going high – clearly and worryingly high in the last weeks – and it was a positive, even if not the easiest of the meetings, but a positive and constructive meeting, where I have clearly seen the commitment, the determination, the leadership of all the four participants. And the recommitment, strong recommitment to engage in the Dialogue at the highest political level to solve a series of issues that we have on the table – be it the implementation of previous agreements or outstanding issues that the parties have, and on which the European Union as a facilitator is providing some space for solutions that will be discussed in the coming days. So when you ask about the plans for the future: it is to reconvene a session of the Dialogue in the coming weeks – we are checking the dates, so I cannot make any announcements as of today, as calendars of different sides might be busy. But we are thinking of reconvening a Dialogue in very short time and in the meantime having our teams working on concrete options for moving forward on some of the issues that are outstanding on the table and that we know very well, because we have worked in this for a long time. My Spokesperson released, I think this morning, an additional comment, because yesterday among the things we agreed is to focus on the Dialogue in terms of procedures, but also in sense of spirit. I saw yesterday respect and a constructive approach around the table. And obviously the more we comment, the more they comment on each other, the less this constructive sense of engaging in the Dialogue becomes sustainable for all parties. So I hope that in the coming hours and days, we can make sure that everybody comments a bit less on each other and we engage more and concretely on solving the problems that are still on the table. I would like to add that one important element and one important outcome of the meeting yesterday night was that the clear European perspective of both, Belgrade and Pristina, was a key element in our conversations. And the regional dimension of this cooperation is key and is recognised as key by all actors of the Dialogue and by the European Union that is and will continue to be a key supporter of, first of all, the regional integration and of the European perspective of the Western Balkans. This is the cornerstone of our engagement and the Dialogue is an essential element for that,” Mogherini said.
