After the first UN Security Council’s session presided by the Great Britain, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Karen Pierce, called on Pristina and Belgrade not to deal too much with the issues of tactics at the UN Security Council, and stressed that both parties should engage together with the EU High Representative to normalize relations, as the only way of advancing on European integration.

Asked by the journalists about the removal of UNMIK’s regular reporting from the UN Security Council’s agenda for August, Pierce emphasized that the Security Council must focus on the most pressing issues of international peace and security and that even though Kosovo remains important, it no longer has the intensity of 18 years ago when it generated “a regular drumbeat” of Council meetings. What is most critical is that Kosovo and Serbia make progress on normalizing relations and set their hearts on the bigger goal of European integration, she stressed.

Kosovo representatives at the United States as well as some of Kosovo government officials welcomed the decision of the United Kingdom to remove the debate on Kosovo from the August agenda of the Security Council.

Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Ivica Dacic, however, reacted to the news saying that the exclusion of Kosovo from the UNSC agenda is a serious precedent and there are no justified reasons to do so. He also mentioned that consultations are continuing with the goal of reaching an agreement on the issue.