Face-to-face meetings/, the top European diplomat hosts Kurti and Vucic for the first time

For the first time in the capacity of the head of the foreign policy of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, welcomes the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, in Brussels today.

The meetings, however, will be held separately and will not be part of the dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which is mediated by the EU.

They take place a few days after an explosion in the critical channel of Ibër-Lepenci - the northern part of Kosovo - from where water is supplied to several cities and thermal power plants of the country.

Kosovo blamed Serbia for the attack, but Serbia denied any responsibility and condemned it.
The EU, on the other hand, described it as a "terrorist attack" against Kosovo's critical infrastructure and invited everyone to cooperate in finding the perpetrators responsible.

Kallas, former prime minister of Estonia, started the five-year mandate of the European chief diplomat from December 1.

In this task, she will also be responsible for mediating the dialogue for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

The process, which started as early as 2011, went through three of her predecessors – Catherine Ashton, Federica Mogherini and Josep Borrell – but produced few results towards the final goal.

Dozens of agreements were reached, but few of them were implemented on the ground. Kurti and Vucic met for the last time in September 2023.

A few days after that meeting, the attack happened in Banjska, where armed groups of Serbs attacked the Kosovo Police and killed a policeman.

An attempt by former mediator Borrell to sit down the two leaders at the end of June was unsuccessful, as Kurti issued several conditions for the meeting - among them, the surrender of the former Kosovo Serb politician, Millan Radoicic, who accepted responsibility for the attack in Banjska.

What will be the approach of Kallas towards the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia now, not much is known. Last month, she appeared at a hearing before the European Parliament, but said nothing concrete about the process.

Her presentation focused more on the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East.
Analysts with whom Radio Free Europe spoke earlier expressed surprise at the lack of attention to the dialogue, saying that the "potential for instability" in the Western Balkans region "is quite high".

"The EU does not have the luxury of putting aside the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia for a long time," said Leon Hartwell, senior fellow at LSE IDEAS - London School of Economics.

In the time of rapid geopolitical developments, according to him, Kallas does not focus on maintaining the status quo.

To move the process forward, he said Kallas could push the five non-recognizing EU countries – Greece, Slovakia, Spain, Cyprus and Romania – to recognize Kosovo and, in this way, pressure Serbia to waived the refusal to recognize her.

In a meeting with the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, in 2021, the then Estonian prime minister emphasized the need to improve relations between Kosovo and Serbia, saying that a secure Western Balkans "is in the interest of all of Europe".

At that time, she also said that Estonia supports Kosovo towards European integration and that the key to success are "reforms, the fight against corruption and organized crime, as well as ensuring recognition of citizenship by five EU countries".

In 2022 and 2023, Kallas also met with Kurt in Tallinn, Estonia.
In those meetings, she thanked Kurti that Kosovo has lined up alongside the EU in sanctioning Russia for its war in Ukraine, while Kurti thanked him for the support given to Kosovo in state building.

Whether today's meetings in Brussels will give any signal about the course that Kallas will follow in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, remains to be seen.

Both countries have long been clear that the normalization of relations is a condition for them to progress towards EU integration./REL/