Serbia, Kosovo leaders to continue Brussels talks

BRUSSELS

Serbian President Alexandar Vucic and Kovoso’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti will visit Brussels on Monday to continue the dialogue.

The partners “will address non-majority community arrangement and the settlement of mutual financial claims and property,” Peter Stano, the EU’s lead spokesperson on foreign affairs, announced Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and the bloc’s special representative for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak will host the talks.

Ahead of the meeting, Lajcak will also assist four expert groups from the Balkan countries to review the formerly discussed topics of missing and displaced people, and economic cooperation at the weekend in Brussels.

Monday’s high-level reunion will be the second occasion gathering Vucic and Hoti in Brussels since the EU-facilitated dialogue between the countries resumed in July.

Before the Brussels talks, the leaders are set to arrive in Washington on Thursday for a US-sponsored two-day dialogue aiming to improve relations between the Balkan countries.

Launched in 2011, the EU-led process promotes talks between Belgrade and Pristina to normalize relations between the two Balkan countries and find a mutually agreeable solution for the disputes in the framework of a legally binding agreement.

The negotiations had been stalled in the past two years because of a disagreement between the EU member states.

Lajcak was appointed in April as the EU special envoy to resume the EU-led negotiations.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, with most UN member states recognizing it as a separate autonomous country from its neighbor. Belgrade, however, maintains it is a breakaway province and has worked to roll back recognition.