Kosovo President, Hashim Thaci, said in an interview for Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse that dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade seems worse than it actually is and added he was confident that both parties will soon reach a point of having normal negotiations. “Certainly, the European Union as a mediator in the process must see if the agreements that have been reached are being implemented.
The opposition parties in Kosovo, the Vetevendosje Movement, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) and Initiative for Kosovo (NISMA) have not welcomed a proposal by Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, to have a “Unity Team” for the third round of talks with Belgrade. Vetevendosje and NISMA officials are claiming that Tahiri’s proposal implies new concessions vis-à-vis Serbia, while the AAK believes that the format of talks is more important than the representation.
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic says he will support the government unconditionally "if rejects as absurd" Pristina's conditions for continued dialogue.
In a statement for Friday's edition of the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, Nikolic noted that the interim institutions in Pristina "wrongly appraised that the time is right to set conditions without which no further steps can be made in the (Kosovo) negotiations."
Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy and security chief Federica Mogherini, said in Brussels Thursday she was not familiar with a document in which Pristina had set new conditions for Belgrade, noting the EU was a facilitator in a dialogue that was currently focused on implementing agreements.
In a statement to Tanjug, she confirmed Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic and Mogherini would speak by phone later in the day.
Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday expressed the suspicion that Pristina had set on its own the latest conditions for a continuation of the Brussels dialogue, which he said was not helping to solve problems, but escalating them further.
Vucic announced he would speak with EU foreign policy and security chief Federica Mogherini later in the day, with the Serbian government to also hold a session to discuss the issue.
The Serbian government will hold an urgent session on Thursday regarding "the scandalous demands" presented by the representative of Pristina, Beta reported.
The head of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric announced this late on Wednesday, saying he had briefed Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on these new conditions for resuming the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.
They were presented by Edita Tahiri, a minister without portfolio in the government in Pristina.
Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, reported today to the Kosovo Assembly Commission for Foreign Affairs.
Tahiri assessed that establishment of the relations between Kosovo and Serbia is conditioned by recognition of Kosovo state by Serbia.
The European Union is considering an option to accelerate the talks between Belgrade and Pristina. In the case of changing the format of the dialogue, there will be no technical dialogue and all will fall under the "roof" of Johannes Hahn.
The Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is continuing and the EU is continuing to play its role in it, the head of the EU Delegation to Belgrade, Michael Davenport, said Friday.
The delegations of Belgrade and Pristina have been in Brussels to discuss concrete implementation of several aspects of the Brussels Agreement and other agreements in the dialogue, he told reporters.
This week's round of the technical dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina ended in Brussels Thursday without concrete progress.
Addressed over two days of discussions were implementation of agreements on vehicle registration plates and university degrees and other topics that are part of the dialogue, the Belgrade delegation said.
It said the Serbian side had initiated, and insisted on, a discussion on the issues of property and forming the Community of Serb Municipalities.