Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic (fourth from the left) with representatives of the Quint (Photo from the Instagram account of the Serbian Presidency)
Oct 21, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Belgrade.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said that he had a difficult meeting with EU and US representatives, and important meetings await him in Brussels in the coming days, Belgrade's Beta News Agency reported on Saturday.
Vucic posted on his Instagram profile: "Difficult meeting with the Quint. I hope in the coming period, we will find a way out of the crisis. In the coming days I expect important meetings in Brussels".
Representatives of the so-called Quint [US, UK, France, Germany and Italy] along with the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues, Miroslav Lajcak, and the US Deputy Assistant Secretary overseeing policy towards the countries of the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, visited Pristina and then Belgrade on Saturday.
The
purpose of the visit was to facilitate the normalization of relations between
the two countries and to deescalate tensions.
The delegation talked in Pristina with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
Following the talks, Lajcak told reporters that a plan had been drafted to be
presented to both the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia. Lajcak did not share
details of the plan.
Reuters quoted Lajcak as saying: "There is no European future for
Serbia and for Kosovo without normalisation of relations". He said the
dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina will be on the agenda of EU foreign
ministers meeting on Monday.
The relations between Belgrade and Pristina tensed after September 24, when some 30 armed Serbs invaded the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo and barricaded themselves in a monastery.
The police managed to force the armed
Serbs to leave the monastery after a shoot-out. A Kosovo police officer and
three attackers died in the shooting.
The incident sparked renewed concern about stability in Kosovo, whose population is comprised mostly of ethnic Albanians. The former Serbian region declared independence from Belgrade in 2008, but Serbia and the Serbs living in Kosovo, who number around 50,000, do not recognize Kosovo's independence.
They
frequently clash with Kosovo police and NATO peacekeepers, but last month's
incident was the most serious in years. The two sides are in EU-brokered talks
to normalize relations.
Lajcak said in Belgrade on Saturday that the Quint condemns the attack on
Kosovo police, adding that those responsible for what happened must be brought
to justice. He expects full cooperation from Serbia in this regard.
The EU Special Representative stressed that both sides should work towards
normalization of relations.
bta