Belgrade's delegation said it was satisfied with an agreement reached in Brussels on Thursday during a technical round of the EU-sponsored Kosovo dialogue.

According to them, the deal "prevents the abolition of Serbian license plates in Kosovo."

Director of the Balkan group from Pristina Naim Rashiti says that the process of normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo fell into great difficulties due to problems with the implementation of the agreements reached, but also due to political developments in Kosovo and in Serbia.

"This led to the fact that Prime Ministers of the two countries were not able to continue the dialogue," said Rashiti to Radio Free Europe.

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, said today that Kosovo is determined to meet the final criteria for visa liberalisation – the border demarcation with Montenegro. After meeting the newly-appointed head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Nataliya Apostolova, Mustafa said that Brussels should pressure Serbia into implementing the agreements reached in the EU-brokered dialogue so far and added that Kosovo remains committed to this process. Apostolova asked Mustafa to brief her on the Kosovo Government’s concrete measures against corruption and nepotism.

Serbian mobile operator in October will be licensed in Kosovo, but only with limited operations, said on Saturday President of the Board of Directors of the Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal communications, Kreshnik Gashi.

According to the announcement of Gashi, Kosovo will get, in early October, dialling code +383 while at the same time Serbian mobile operator will obtain permission to operate in Kosovo, but only with limited operations.

The European commissioner for neighborhood policy and enlargement, Johannes Hahn, who is visiting Belgrade on Sept. 9, will convey to the Serbian officials "the EU's strong support to the reform program and the process of European integration of Serbia."

The Managing Team for forming the Community of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo said in Brussels on Sept. 8 that it was starting on a Community statute and that members of the team had discussed this with representatives of the EU's institutions.

The four member team and its expert groups are starting, team member Dejan Radojkovic said after Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Premier Isa Mustafa ordered it.

In an interview for Radio Free Europe in Albanian, Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj said that dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade will continue in the same format as until now but that the government of Kosovo hopes doe a more creative approach to the process “to know what are the exact parametres of the dialogue and the final objectives”. Hoxhaj said there needs to be a clear timeframe of the dialogue process and should end in mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia. “A dialogue whose goal is not recognition is senseless and objectiveless to us,” said Hoxhaj.

In a statement to the press, the Kosovo delegation, currently in talks with Serbia under the EU facilitation in Brussels, said that the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities will not be tackled at this stage. “Only four topics will be discussed at this round of talks in Brussels: freedom of movement, diplomas, cadaster, and telephone code,” the delegation said.

The technical dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade is expected to continue today with focus on cadasters and recognition of diplomas. It is reported that the main issues discussed yesterday among the technical teams were implementation of the agreement on freedom of movement and the issue of the use of license plates for Kosovo vehicles. Neither parties gave details about the meeting. In the last day of discussions, the delegations, mediated by the EU, will discuss the border between the northern and southern parts of Mitrovica.

A new round of the EU-facilitated technical dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina began in EU's External Action Service headquarters in Brussels Wednesday.
Sources close to Belgrade's delegation told Tanjug the topic of the opening day of the three-day discussions would be the implementation of an agreement on free movement - more specifically, the issue of registration plates for vehicles from Kosovo's territory.