The envoy of the European Union for the Western Balkans, Miroslav Lajcak, started his visit to Belgrade on Monday (March 13), as part of the preparations for the next meeting between the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic.

Lajcak visits Belgrade a few days after his two-day visit to Pristina, where he met with Kurti and other political officials. The focus of the talks is expected to be the path towards the implementation of the so-called “Agreement for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia”, for which the two countries reached agreement on February 27 in Brussels.

According to the chief diplomat of the EU, Josep Borell, the document of 11 articles that was made public by the European Union does not specifically mention mutual recognition, which the Government of Kosovo has said should be at the center of an eventual agreement for the normalization of relations.

However, in Article 2 of the proposal, it is mentioned that the parties must respect each other’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The proposal also includes the commitment of the parties to respect all the agreements reached so far in the dialogue for the normalization of relations, as well as their commitment not to hinder each other in the integration processes.

On March 9, Lajcak said that he had constructive and very important talks with Kurti on the implementation of the Agreement, and added that the meeting had met his expectations.

/k.s/