Gabriel Escobar, along with EU Envoy for Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, kicked off a five-day visit to Kosovo and Serbia on Monday, a visit aimed at encouraging leaders in both countries to engage in dialogue mediated by the European bloc.The US special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said the Western Balkans is an extraordinary opportunity for the European Union and not a danger.

After the meeting he held on Monday in Pristina with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in a press conference, Escobar said that the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia will bring Kosovo closer to the European Union and the transatlantic community.

“For Kosovo and the region, we see this area as an extraordinary opportunity with extraordinary energy. You are European, economically, historically and culturally you are European, and we have worked with our European colleagues to make sure they recognize that the Western Balkans is a tremendous opportunity for them, not a danger. In this sense, we encourage all parties to see the Western Balkans as potential members of the EU in the future, all of them at peace with each other, all productive and capable members, as we have seen, we as bilateral partners. The main hope for this is through dialogue,” said Escobar.

Speaking about the dialogue, Escobar said that this process has the full support of Washington.

“The dialogue has our full support and should be led by the EU because it is about Europe. But as you move towards the EU, you will continue to be close friends of the US because it is a transatlantic partnership, a transatlantic community that you are already part of, and this dialogue will bring you even closer,” said Escobar, who is also the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

Meanwhile, Lajcak said that this joint visit shows that the EU and the US are working “closely” for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia and for the vision of the future.

“I am happy that this visit has already provided an opportunity to discuss our plans in the coming weeks and months with the president and prime minister, and we will continue our discussions,” Lajcak said.

He said that the visit to Kosovo and Serbia will help them to have a clear picture of “what we will expect in the future and how we will move this process ahead”.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti said that the state is committed to dialogue.

“We are determined that territorial integrity, sovereignty, state functioning, constitutionality and legality all the time and everywhere remain untouched by any effort of anyone. I am the Prime Minister of all citizens without distinction, so I am ready to respond to all the requests and needs of the citizens of Kosovo, including the Serbian citizens, in which case we will take the current best practices of Kosovo, but also of the European Union, taking into account the practices and ways  Serbia implements  because we should not have citizens or communities anywhere who are privileged and discriminated against elsewhere,” Kurti said during a joint press conference.

Prime Minister Kurti has previously advocated the idea that Albanians in Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac – municipalities in southern Serbia – should be treated the same as the Serb community in Kosovo.

The visit of the diplomats comes after Kosovo and Serbia, since July 2021, have not held any round of high-level talks, within the dialogue mediated by the European Union.

/Klara Ruci/