Pristina requests a limited dialogue (Vecernje Novosti)
Provisional institutions in Kosovo and Metohija are preparing new requests ahead of continuation of dialogue. Their intention is to establish a diplomatic relations with Serbia in next four years.
Continuation of the dialogue is not at sight, however Pristina has open its cards already – requests signing of a binding legal document and establishment of a diplomatic relations with Serbia, and all of it should be accomplished in next four years!
“We want dialogue to be in the so far format, to be framed and limited in time,” President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga said recently. On the other side Belgrade claims that dialogue is not limited and that it should remain status neutral and result in improving living conditions in Kosovo and Metohija.
A tailwind to such perception of negotiations in Pristina has been, without doubts, provided by the latest European Commission’s progress report for Serbia where ‘new era in relations’ between Serbia and Kosovo is requested, which should be sealed with the contract between two sides.
The Director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric, who also takes part in dialogue said to Novosti that it is important for negotiations to last as long as required for reaching a political agreement on normalization and improving of conditions for the everyday life: “It is about a very complex political process, whose duration and the way it develops is often irritating. However, it is important to stay focused on the final result: long term normalization of relations, which is particularly important for the future of Serbs and Albanians. There is no place for one-upmanship over the status issue.”
The Chairperson of the Serbian parliament’s Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Milovan Drecun, said to Novosti that normalization is not limited and that it is difficult to say when is it going to end in situation when almost entire year has been wasted due to the political deadlock in Pristina: “The problem is in fact that Pristina has a different perception of normalization of relations and is using it for reaching the strategic goals and for concluding a contract between two states.”