Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has stated that the Paris Summit on Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue is expected to be held in July.
In a roundtable with civil society on Kosovo government’s platform for the dialogue, Hoti has assured once again that land swap or redrawing of borders between the two countries will not be on the White House meeting agenda on June 27.
“After this [White House] meeting, the Paris Summit is expected to be held in July,” Hoti announced.
The Paris Summit was proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron one week ago as the first step for the resumption of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. However, US envoy Richard Grenell announced an unexpected meeting in the White House which will apparently mark its resumption after about three years of stagnation.
Hoti has argued that he is not interested in details of possible discussions in the past behind closed doors on a Kosovo-Serbia deal, but that he is interested to sit in talks that could lead to a final agreement and recognition of Kosovo. This is despite Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denying suggestions that recognition of Kosovo could be on the agenda.
“I don’t know the background of this process. What I asked our international partners on the first day I took office, in phone calls with Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Washington, as prime minister I asked where the process has reached. Their answer was clear: it has not reached anywhere. Both sides will sit down as two independent states and will negotiate to reach a comprehensive agreement that should lead to mutual recognition. What does this mean? It means that all the various conspiracies for maps and exchanges of territories for me are irrelevant, they are not true, I do not know if they happened or didn’t, but they are not taken into account and are not part of the discussions that I will have with my team in this process,”, Hoti said.
The Prime Minister stressed that no deal between Kosovo and Serbia could be reached or implemented without the support of both the US and EU. “The agreement cannot be reached, much less implemented, without the involvement of both parties,” he stated.
Hoti clarified that 10 days ahead of the White House meeting there is still no agenda, and Kosovo has not appointed its delegation yet.
