German Special Envoy for the South-Easternt Europe Ernst Reichel said yesterday, at the Belgrade Security Forum, that full reconciliation between Belgrade and Pristina is not possible without settling the status of Kosovo, whereas the Head of the EU Office in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar said that there is no agreement in the EU over the status of Kosovo.

In the same time representatives of Belgrade and Pristina talked about the need for normalization of relations as a precondition for better life of Serbs and Albanians.

At the Forum’s panel dubbed “Serbs and Albanians 2025 as friends and allies: How to reach it?” Reichel said the Germany reached reconciliation, the society went through the process of facing with the past and accepted the loss of territory. He also said that negotiations between Serbia and EU over the membership will end when Serbia fulfills all conditions, including normalization of relations with Pristina. Process of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, according to him, is ongoing in parallel with the process of Serbia’s accession to the EU, and that is something that Berlin wants to maintain.

Head of the EU Office in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar stated that there is no agreement in the EU over the status of Kosovo, however the implementation of the Brussels Agreement is the condition for both, and for the process of accession of Serbia, within the Chapter 35, and for the progress of Kosovo, in the frame of Agreement on Stabilization and Association. He assessed that it is maybe too much to expect that Serbs and Kosovo Albanians could become friends and allies, however the goal of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is normalization of relations.

He added that process of normalization is a ‘marathon’ with three phases: first one was reaching the Brussels agreement, second will be implementation, and the third consolidation of dialogue, which implies connection of civil societies, media, engagement of MPs and business people…

That is, according to Zbogar, the only way to achieve long-lasting normalization of relations.

Representatives of Belgrade at the panel have shown more optimism with regard to future relations between Serbs and Albanians, whereas participants from Pristina were more reserved.