Brussels: Petkovic and Bajrami in deadlock, normalisation plan waits for June
The chief negotiators for Belgrade and Pristina kept their opposing positions after talks at Peter Sorensen, with the normalisation plan now waiting for the Tivat summit.
- Petkovic and Bajrami kept opposing positions after separate talks at Peter Sorensen in Brussels.
- Belgrade insists on forming the Association of Serb Municipalities as a precondition for continuing the dialogue.
- Pristina holds to its demand for mutual recognition as the goal of normalisation.
- The plan to continue normalisation will be presented in June, before and after the Tivat summit.
Petar Petkovic, director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and head of Belgrade’s negotiating team, and Agron Bajrami, head of Pristina’s team, kept opposing positions in Brussels after separate talks with the EU special envoy Peter Sorensen. After several meetings during the working week, the plan to continue normalisation of relations will be presented in June.
The talks were held in the Europa building, the seat of the European Council. Sorensen held separate sessions with each side. Sources close to Brussels diplomatic circles say the topic was the sequence of steps before and after the upcoming EU-Western Balkans summit.
Opposing positions hold
Petkovic said in an official statement that the focus of the talks was the formation of the Association of Serb Municipalities, which Belgrade sees as a guarantee of security and collective rights for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. By his account, the situation of Serbs in northern Kosovo and in central municipalities is deteriorating on a near-daily basis, particularly in the pre-election period.
Bajrami, alongside Pristina’s Foreign Minister Glauk Konjufca, repeated that the Republic of Kosovo remains committed to completing the dialogue through mutual recognition. By their account, normalisation without that step is not possible.
Sorensen’s plan in three elements
Brussels sources say Sorensen’s plan to continue normalisation contains three key elements:
- a timeline for forming the Association of Serb Municipalities with EU technical support
- depoliticisation of northern Kosovo and a reduction in the number of police operations
- legal upgrading of the Brussels and Ohrid agreements through an operational protocol
Sorensen separately visited Belgrade and Pristina earlier in May, and after the Tivat summit the plan is expected to receive an official framework from the EU External Action Service.
Without concrete steps towards forming the Association of Serb Municipalities, without legal and institutional upgrading of agreements already signed, the dialogue stays at a level that cannot match the intensity of the crises on the ground, reads a joint assessment from European sources close to the talks.
Tensions before the Tivat summit
The talks come amid escalation in northern Kosovo. Srpska Lista says pressure on Serbs in education and healthcare institutions has intensified in recent months, which Belgrade calls a pre-election move by Albin Kurti.
Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement, earlier this month tied Pristina’s accession progress to advances in the dialogue with Belgrade. Pristina dismissed that message as interference in Kosovo’s internal affairs.
What comes before 5 June
In the coming days both sides are expected to consult their governments and return to Brussels with more precise instructions. Sorensen, his office says, will hold parallel meetings in Berlin, Paris and Washington on a coordinated approach before the summit.
Will the Tivat summit move the dialogue out of deadlock, or formally defer it to autumn?
