The October 6 elections have changed the political situation in Kosovo, one of the conclusions of the panel "Prospects for normalization and dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina" held in Belgrade, with participants - Serbian and Albanian analysts - who all agree that a final agreement between the two sides will not come anytime soon.
Suzana Vasiljevic, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic media advisor, said on Friday the meeting with Richard Grenell, the US head of state Donald Trump’s envoy to Kosovo, was challenging, but could not go into the details of the talks, the Beta news agency reported.
Speaking to the Prva TV, Vasiljevic said the two spoke alone in the first ten minutes, after which the head of Serbia’s Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric joined the meeting.
Newly appointed EU Foreign Minister Joseph Borrell says Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is taking too long
He added that the current situation cannot be continued and that an agreement must be reached, on which he will strongly engage, and will first visit Pristina, because, he says, he already knows Serbia well.
“One thing is clear: Kosovo and Serbia must reach an agreement. That is important. I will do everything I can to meet this priority”, Borrell said.
Ahead of his arrival in Belgrade, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with Politika that Turkey was ready to do its best to solve Kosovo's problem.
Erdoğan pointed out that an agreement that would be acceptable to both parties would also be acceptable to Turkey.
Russia and China should be asked now to name their own special envoys in the Balkans, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said commenting on the appointment of Richard Grenell as Washington's special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina talks, Serbian media carried on Sunday.
Serbian media quoted Balkan experts Florian Bieber and Tim Judah, who expressed surprise at the announced appointment of Richard Grenell as special envoy for negotiations.
Professor at the University of Grazz, Bieber wondered what the role of Matthew Palmer was, the recently appointed US Secretary of State's Special Representative for the Balkans.
"If Trump appoints Richard Grenell as special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo, what than is the role of Matthew Palmer?" Bieber wrote on Twitter.
The German Ambassador in Belgrade Thomas Schieb said on Wednesday that Serbia needs a comprehensive agreement with Kosovo to take what he called a decisive step in its European integration process.
''Germany wants to see the comprehensive agreement reached through a dialogue,'' he told TV Prva adding that Serbia must resolve the Kosovo problem to become a member of the European Union and benefit from all the advantages of membership.
The appointment of a European Union special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is a sure thing and the decision will probably be announced after the EU’s future top diplomat Josep Borrell adresses the European Parliament on October 7, Radio Free Europe said on Thursday quoting unnamed diplomatic sources in Brussels.
Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia, confirmed that Serbia was ready to resume the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on the normalization of relations as soon as Kosovo lifted the 100 percent import taxes on goods from Serbia and Bosnia introduced last November, the FoNet news agency reported.
Cameron Munter, a former US ambassador to Serbia, told belgrade based daily Danas that President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic was ready to talk about an agreement on the normalisation of relations with Pristina, but not to “sign a paper”, quoted Serbian media.
Munter said he believed it was okay since there were people in Kosovo also ready to negotiate.