Kurti and Vučić to Meet in Brussels on September 14

(Patria) - EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced that a new round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina at the highest political level will be held in Brussels on September 14.

This will be the first meeting in the dialogue between Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić since the escalation of the situation in northern Kosovo, which has further strained relations between Pristina and Belgrade.

Vučić, who met with Special Representative for Dialogue Miroslav Lajčak on August 30, stated that "there are many ideas, only solutions are running out".

On June 3, the EU announced that it expects Kosovo and Serbia to behave responsibly and to immediately engage in dialogue to find a sustainable solution for the situation in northern Kosovo that guarantees security and participatory democracy for all citizens and opens the way for the implementation of the Agreement on the Path to Normalization of Relations, reached on February 27.

The Union stated at the time that this includes starting work on forming the Community of Serb Municipalities without further delay or preconditions, and that Kosovo authorities should call early local elections in all four municipalities in northern Kosovo as soon as possible, in which Kosovo Serbs would participate.

Vučić and Kurti last met in Brussels on May 2, nine days after early local elections in northern Kosovo, which were boycotted by Serbs.

During that round of the Brussels dialogue, the Declaration on Missing Persons was adopted and the first draft of the Statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities was presented.

They were also in Brussels on June 22, in the midst of one of the numerous crises in northern Kosovo, but they did not meet then, but held separate talks with Borrell and Lajčak, RSE reports.

The latest escalation in northern Kosovo began on May 26, when new mayors of municipalities with a Serb majority, ethnic Albanians elected in elections boycotted by Serbs, entered municipal buildings in Zvečan, Leposavić and Zubin Potok, with the help of Kosovo special forces.

The European Union and the United States have since called for new early elections in the four municipalities in northern Kosovo, which would not be boycotted by Serbs.

On August 30, the European Union reiterated its call for Kosovo and Serbia to create a climate for the continuation of the dialogue on the normalization of relations.