European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that a new top-level Belgarde – Pristina meeting was unnecessary before the two sides showed readiness to agree on concrete results.
At a joint news conference with Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Brussels, Borrell said that „we clearly stated that after two meetings this year, the precondition for the highest level talks is that the two sides are ready to agree on concrete results. It would be unnecessary to have another meeting if preconditions were not met. It would again be a meeting for no reason.“
„We have shuttle diplomacy, we have (the EU Special envoy of the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on the normalisation of relations Miroslav) Lajčák, but currently there is no readiness we expect. The year is over, and we continue to do everything in our power to organise such a meeting if we can be sure it will produce results,“ Borrell told reporters.
On Monday, an EU spokesperson Peter Stano said that the recent contacts made by Borrell and Lajčák showed there was no such readiness at the moment.
Kurti and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic met in July without any agreement. The two blamed each other for the talks’ failure.
Before that, in June, the talks were also fruitless.