Lajcak meets with Vucic: the EU aims for a Kosovo-Serbia meeting in September

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, told the special representative of the European bloc for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, that he is "very concerned about the development of events" in Kosovo.

Vucic and Lajcak met in Belgrade on August 30 and, according to a post made on the Serbian president's Instagram account, held a meeting of more than two hours.

The meeting in Belgrade comes after Lajcak said on August 28 that he had held "an important meeting" with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum, as part of the preparations for the new round of high-level dialogue. which is expected to be held in September.

"The main issue of the meeting was the preparations for the new high-level dialogue meeting in September, with a focus on the normalization of relations and the implementation of the June 3 agreement," Lajcak wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On August 30, the European Union repeated the calls for Kosovo and Serbia to create conditions for the continuation of the dialogue for the normalization of relations.

On June 3, the EU said it expects Kosovo and Serbia to behave responsibly and immediately engage in dialogue to find a lasting solution to the situation in the north of Kosovo - inhabited by a majority of Serbs - to guarantee security and the democratic participation of all citizens and take steps towards the implementation of the Agreement on the way to the normalization of relations reached in Brussels on February 27.

Kurti and Vučić last met on May 2, nine days after the local elections held in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, which were boycotted by the Serbs.

The tensions in the north of Kosovo started at the end of May, when the new Albanian mayors entered the municipal buildings with the assistance of the Kosovo Police.

Since then, the EU and the United States have asked Kosovo and Serbia to reduce tensions and return to dialogue.

Due to non-fulfillment of EU requirements, the European bloc has imposed some punitive measures against Kosovo.

In July, in Bratislava, Kosovo and the EU agreed on steps towards enlargement, including the holding of new elections in the north.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that he is in favor of holding new elections, but emphasized that the election campaign must be free./rel