Rapporteur for Serbia and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, David McAllister, said that Belgrade and Pristina are expected to remain committed to dialogue. McAllister pointed out that Belgrade and Pristina are expected not to play "game" of mutual accusations and to refrain from any action that would jeopardize the progress achieved so far in the process.
The second round of the high level discussions between Kosovo and Serbia will be held on Wednesday.
On Jan. 28, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini invited the Serbian and Kosovo prime ministers to attend a new round of talks in Brussels, on Feb. 1. The meeting to be attended by Prime Ministers Aleksandar Vucic and Isa Mustafa is the follow-up to a Jan. 24 meeting in Brussels, attended by Vucic and Mustafa, as well as the Serbian and Kosovo presidents, resulting in an agreement to lower tensions.
The Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Kosovo, Ruairi O’Connell, considers that Kosovo and Serbia should continue with the dialogue mediated by the European Union. In an interview for Radio Kosova, O’Connell said that he does not believe the recently increased tensions between Kosovo and Serbia could lead to a new conflict. “I am very pleased that the Presidents and the Prime Ministers, as far as I know, agreed to lower tensions and this is very important,” O’Connell said.
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.
In a telephone interview with AFP, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj, currently in France pending a ruling on an extradition request from Serbia, said that there can be no dialogue with Serbia for as long as it continues not recognising independence of Kosovo. He said it was damaging that Pristina maintains an “inferior” and “servile” position towards Belgrade. “Only one issue is open for discussion with Serbia – recognition of Kosovo. If Serbia is ready to accept it, then we can sit down and talk. If not, we will have to wait,” he said.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle, President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci said that Belgrade should be pressured to stop undermining Kosovo’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. “Seeing Brussels silence, Belgrade gets more encouraged to proceed with its plans to annex the northern part of Kosovo and join it to Serbia,” said Thaci adding that such a scenario will not unfold as Kosovo will use its constitutional and legal power to prevent it.
Jevtić told Tanjug that peace and stability have no alternative, and the meeting from last night and the continuation of the dialogue in Brussels were of great importance for peace and stability in Kosovo.
Serbian PM Aleksandar Vučić said late on Tuesday that Belgrade and Pristina agreed to hold a series of high level meetings within the Brussles dialogue.
He made the statement after the meeting held in Brussels, attended and by the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić, and Kosovo's President and Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi and Isa Mustafa, with the mediation of EU high representative Federica Mogherini.
KOSOVO 2.0 has published an opinion piece by Eraldin Fazliu who notes that after weeks of tense relations between Kosovo and Serbia, both parties will today sit down in Brussels to continue the EU-mediated dialogue process. Discussions will take place at the highest level, with presidents Hashim Thaci and Tomislav Nikolic joining prime ministers Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic in today’s meeting.