Talks between Belgrade and Priština have deteriorated since Albin Kurti took over as Kosovo’s prime minister, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selaković said on Sunday, adding that talks are unlikely to be continued.
The Belgrade-Priština dialogue will be the central theme of next week’s meetings with US envoy Gabriel Escobar and EU envoy Miroslav Lajčak, Selaković said in an interview with the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS). Anything that might threaten relations between Serbia and Kosovo in the normalisation process will also be central to the meeting, he added.
“Our position, which cannot be changed, is that we are always ready to sit at the negotiating table and talk. Clearly, since Kurti was put in charge in Priština, there hasn’t been any dialogue, and there probably won’t be any as long as he makes the rules,” Selaković said, adding that Belgrade chooses its moves carefully, acting wisely, committed to dialogue and peace, stability and Serbia’s interests in Kosovo.
EU Special Representative for Belgrade-Priština Dialogue Miroslav Lajčak and the US Special Representative for the Western Balkans and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar are to visit Kosovo from 31 January to 2 February.
The US urged both sides “to fully implement the agreements and commitments they made in Brussels,” Escobar said on 28 January. “The government of Kosovo has made a commitment for the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities to exist,” the US special representative told the Pristina-based Reporteri website.
