BRUSSELS – The fifth round of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue at the expert level was held today in Brussels, attended by the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Petar Petković, Kosovo State Coordinator for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Skender Hyseni and the EU Special Representative for Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajčák.
According to Petković, they discussed the standards on the basis of which an agreement will be reached on financial claims and property on which “the two sides have diametrically opposed views”, while according to a statement from the Kosovo government, they talked about pensions and cadastre, reports KoSSev.
A statement from the Kosovo government added that there was no “significant harmonization of views between the two sides on these issues”, but that it was agreed that discussions on this element of the general agreement, financial claims and property issues would continue at the next meeting.
EU Special Representative for Dialogue Miroslav Lajčák said that by holding the second round of talks on financial claims and property issues between Kosovo and Serbia, another step was made towards a comprehensive agreement on normalization.
He added that negotiations between the delegations of Kosovo and Serbia will be resumed soon.
Petković: Implementation on the road to normalization
The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petković, stated today that the Belgrade delegation, in technical talks with the Pristina delegation in Brussels, raised again the issue of forming the Association of Serb Municipalities (ASM) and implementing the Brussels Agreement, FoNet reports.
Petković also defined a new principle of the Serbian delegation in the negotiations – implementation on the road to normalization.
“We have fulfilled everything we agreed on, and ours is only to demand from the Pristina side to fulfill what it did not fulfill,” he pointed out and added that without the formation of the ASM, “we cannot progress in the dialogue”.
He added that “we do not need a non-governmental organization, we need a serious ASM institution with executive powers”.
He added that the historical reconciliation of the two nations is a necessary phase for the peace and prosperity of the entire Western Balkans.