Kosovo and Serbian leaders met Tuesday night in Brussels in a new round of talks aimed at normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
The meeting between Presidents Hashim Thaçi and Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Ministers Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic was mediated by the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini.
Following the meeting, Mogherini said they discussed the “developments over the past days, agreed to leave the tensions behind and to focus on the work ahead.”
She said that “both sides agreed to take the Dialogue forward in a spirit of respect, cooperation and mutual understanding.”
The meeting comes as the tension between Kosovo and Serbia remain high since a train with writings saying “Kosovo is Serbia” left Belgrade and was directed towards Kosovo in early January. Kosovo vowed not to let the train in and sent armed forces at the border. Serbian authorities later decided to turn the train back, avoiding what the called “a provocation” from Kosovo Albanians.
At the meantime, Former Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj was arrested in France three weeks after an arrest warrant was issued by Serbia back in 2004. Haradniaj was later released on bail, but he is not allowed to leave France until another court verdict. Serbia has issued arrest warrants for tens of former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters and accuses them to have killed Serbian civilians. Haradniaj was previously found innocent by the International Court of Hague.
The High EU Representative also said in the statement that there would be series of rounds of the high level Dialogue, starting from the coming days.
Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 and is recognized by over 110 countries, including the U.S., Germany and France. Serbia and its ally Russia do not recognize Kosovo as an independent state./tvklan.al
