The European Union will do everything in order that an agreement is reached next year on the overall normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, Belgrade-based news agency Tanjug reports, citing diplomatic sources in Brussels.
“We will do everything in the year that has remained to achieve a comprehensive normalization of relations, but we are not the only ones of whom this depends,” diplomatic sources in Brussels told Tanjug.
In Brussels say that currently are ”ongoing contacts” to continue the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, but there is no concrete date for a possible new meeting of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hashim Thaci.
In circles close to the negotiating process, they say that last week’s meeting of Vucic and Thaci was “difficult without any doubt,” Tanjug reports.
It is alleged that Mogherini’s plan for that meeting was to agree about intensifying the process of reaching an agreement on a comprehensive normalization of relations, but that Pristina’s decision to raise customs duties on goods imported from Serbia “at last moment, has disrupted planned”.
Asked by Tanjug, what the EU will do in order that Pristina withdraw such a decision, sources from the European Commission note that the EU “was already clear in its announcement” when it condemned such a move and called on the Kosovo authorities to revoke that decision.
In November is expected, regardless of whether there will be a continuation of the dialogue, a regular report that will be presented by the European External Action Service to EU member states on progress in the process of normalizing relations between the two sides.
From the report will largely depend the decision of EU member states on the number of new chapters that Serbia will open in December as part of its accession negotiations.
