Lajcak optimistic about progress on some key issues in dialogue

BRUSSELS - The EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak said on Tuesday no progress had been made at an October 24 Brussels meeting of the dialogue when it comes to implementation of a 2023 agreement on normalisation of relations, but that he was "optimistic about some progress made on several other key issues."

"Last week, I hosted another round of the EU-facilitated dialogue at the level of Chief Negotiators, focusing on advancing the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, particularly through the implementation of the 2023 Agreement on the Path to Normalisation.

While we didn’t make leaps forward on this one, I’m optimistic about some progress made on several other key issues, which we will follow up on in the coming weeks," Lajcak wrote in a Facebook post that recapped his activities in the past week.

After last Thursday's trilateral meeting with Lajcak and Pristina's chief negotiator Besnik Bislimi in Brussels, the head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic, who is also Belgrade's chief negotiator, said he had insisted on the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities, which he noted was essential for the process of normalisation of Belgrade and Pristina relations.

He said it was evident Pristina had no sincere readiness to reach an agreement on any issue.

Lajcak said at the time the meeting had addressed the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement, which he noted was essentially yet to begin.