Jun 3, 2021

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in Pristina on Wednesday that his meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Brussels this month would be the opening of “a new chapter”, not the resumption of the previous dialogue. For his part, Vucic said he won’t be requested to recognise Kosovo.

The meeting in Brussels “is not a meeting for the resumption of the dialogue. This is the first meeting, at which I am expected to face the Serbian president for the first time,” Kurti said.

“That is the first meeting, and we can see what the next chapter of the dialogue will be. That is a meeting for the new chapter in the dialogue and not for the resumption of the previous dialogue,” Kurti added.

Kosovo’s PM also announced he would discuss the dialogue with two opposition leaders and address the members of the Kosovo Assembly.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Wednesday that he would not be requested to recognise Kosovo at the meeting in Brussels, adding that he should not even be invited if that were the plan.

“If he [Kurti] says that he does not want to discuss the Community of Serb Municipalities and that we should recognise Kosovo, then he does not need to come at all,” said Vučić.

“If they expect me to do that, then they don’t need to invite me, either,” he said, adding that the response of Belgrade would be “very strong and resolute” regarding the non-fulfilment of the legal contracts signed in Brussels. (EURACTIV.rs | betabriefing.com)

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Serbia has imposed conditions on Kosovo ahead of the meeting expected to take place in Brussels between president Aleksandar Vucic and PM Albin Kurti in mid June. “If Kurti doesn’t intend to discuss the issue of the association (of Serb Municipalities), then there’s no reason for him to be at the meeting,” the Serbian president, … Continue reading

The US Embassy in Pristina said on Tuesday that State Department envoy Matthew Palmer called the Kosovo authorities to implement the Constitutional court ruling on the Visoki Decani monastery land.

“Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Palmer encouraged the Government of Kosovo and opposition leaders to play a constructive role while calling on all to respect and implement the constitutional court ruling on the registration of the Decani Monastery Land,” the embassy said in a Facebook post.

It added that good governance and rule of law are critical to Kosovo’s democratic and multiethnic future.

The local authorities in the town of Decani and the Visoki Decani monastery have been in a dispute over land owned by the monastery. The brotherhood and Raska-Prizren Diocese have also objected to the construction of a road which they say infringes on monastery property. The Kosovo Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the monastery but the ruling has not been implemented.