Brussels, September 17, 2024
The First Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Development and Dialogue of the Republic of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, met in Brussels with the Special Representative of the EU, Miroslav Lajçak, as part of the preliminary meetings of the dialogue process.
The meeting took place in a bilateral format, while there was no trilateral meeting, due to Serbia’s refusal to participate in such a meeting. For its part, Kosovo, through the chief negotiator, has agreed to hold the trilateral meeting, according to the agenda predetermined by the mediator, where the only topic of discussion was expected to be the way forward for the implementation of the Basic Agreement and the Implementing Annex.
In the meeting with the emissary Lajçak, the sequencing plan and the implementation of the agreements were discussed. The Deputy Prime Minister once again expressed the constructive and active commitment of Kosovo in the implementation of the agreements and the way forward, as well as its comments on the sequencing drafts, while Serbia has not taken any steps towards it, in the first place it has not even accepted the agreement.
The topics of discussion were also the issue of forcibly disappeared persons, telecommunication, IBM and freedom of movement. Regarding the issue of forcibly disappeared persons, the deputy prime minister reiterated the destructiveness of Serbia, which is deliberately dragging out the process by presenting new demands even after the final agreement.
On the freedom of movement, the deputy prime minister informed Mr. Lajçak on the Government’s facilitation of driver’s license conversion for citizens of the Serbian community and their support in this process.
As for the bridge over the river Ibër, it is also clear for the EU that there is no other alternative but to open the bridge.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that even in the Reports of the European Commission since 2014, the EU states that the bridge should be opened, without further delays. He said that this issue has already been dealt with and agreed upon in Brussels, within the dialogue process, and that it should be opened according to the existing agreement, where it is considered as a symbol of normalization.
Last modified: September 18, 2024