Borrell: Kurti insisted on de facto recognition, Community key for normalisation

BRUSSELS - Speaking to reporters after Thursday's round of the Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, EU foreign policy and security chief Josep Borrell said it had not been possible to "bridge the differences" and that Pristina's PM Albin Kurti had not been ready to start a process towards establishing a Community of Serb Municipalities but insisted on a de facto recognition of the so-called Kosovo.

Borrell noted that the two parties' path towards the EU went "through dialogue" and that establishing the Community was "key for taking the normalisation process forward."

"Without normalisation, there will not be a European future for either Kosovo or Serbia," Borrell warned.

"And today, I tried with PM Kurti and President Vucic to find solutions and a way forward based on our proposal. Unfortunately, after quite a long meeting, PM Kurti was not ready to move forward and start a credible process towards establishing the Association/Community. He insisted instead on formalising de facto recognition as the first step. I have to say, President Vucic accepted the European Union’s proposal for the implementation of the Agreement. He came with another proposal, but finally he accepted our proposal," Borrell said.

"We tried hard, but unfortunately, it was not possible to bridge the differences today. I also have to inform (you) that there was no progress on de-escalation of tensions in the north of Kosovo," he also said.

"The establishment of the Association/Community is an old obligation for the Parties and it has always been a key element in the normalisation process. Therefore, it is crucial that the negotiations on the statute finally start with no further delay, in the context of the implementation of the Agreement," Borrell said.

"We focused on implementation of the Agreement on the Path to Normalisation – which is key. It is key for taking the normalisation process forward," he noted.

"Today, we again urged both Parties to take immediate action in the north of Kosovo to de-escalate the situation, to avoid any further destabilisation and to enable new early local elections to take place immediately. We cannot sit and wait for the next crisis. This has to take place immediately, in line with the requests made by the European Union and the broader international community," Borrell also said.