Preparations at ‘full speed’ for Thursday's high-level Serbia-Kosovo dialogue in Brussels: EU

BELGRADE, Serbia 

The European Union's special representative has said that preparations for the high-level dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo in Brussels are at full speed. 

Miroslav Lajcak, the EU's envoy for the dialogue process, stated on social media on Sunday that he had a productive week packed with preparation work for the meeting on Thursday.

"Preparations for the European Union High-Level Dialogue meeting on 14th September are in full speed, and we are working towards positive outcomes," Lajcak stated on Facebook.

The decision on local elections in northern Kosovo for four municipalities dominated by ethnic Serbians is expected to be made during a new round of talks within the EU-facilitated dialogue in the Belgian capital of Brussels.

Following the April elections in northern Kosovo, the EU said the low turnout among Serbs would not result in long-term political solutions for the municipalities, which have a large ethnic Serb population.

Ethnic Serbs have been protesting the winning of Albanian mayors in elections since late May.

Later, NATO sent 700 more troops to support the Kosovo Force (KFOR), the alliance-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, on May 30 after 30 of its soldiers were injured during the unrest. A contingent of Turkish troops was among the reinforcements.

Kosovo and Serbia must resolve disputes and reach an agreement to move forward in becoming an EU member state.

When Pristina declared independence 15 years ago, most UN member states, including the US, UK, France, Germany, and Türkiye, recognized it as a separate country from Serbia. Yet Belgrade still considers Kosovo an autonomous province of Serbia.