Kallas Meets Balkan Leaders in New York, Kurti Slams Serbia

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, brought together representatives of the Western Balkans in New York on September 24, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Seated at the same table were Albin Kurti, Kosovo’s prime minister, Marko Djuric, Serbia’s foreign minister in a caretaker mandate, Hristijan Mickoski, prime minister of North Macedonia, Jakov Milatovic, president of Montenegro, Dino Konakovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s minister of foreign affairs, and Ferit Hodza, Albania’s minister for Europe and foreign affairs.

Accounts of what the gathering actually was do not agree. KoSSev describes it as an informal lunch of Western Balkan foreign ministers, while Serbiantimes, citing Izlaz, calls it a working dinner. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in its own statement, called it an informal lunch of Western Balkan partners with Kallas. Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued no separate statement on the meeting.

Two different photos survive from the same gathering. Kosovo’s government released a wide group shot showing the full lineup: Djuric, Mickoski, Milatovic, Kallas, Kurti, Konakovic and Hodza. Djuric, for his own post, chose a much tighter crop from the same photo session, showing only himself, Mickoski, Milatovic and Kallas, with Kurti, Konakovic and Hodza left out of frame. He also posted a separate photo with only Mickoski.

Kurti used the meeting to repeat his request for EU candidate status and to level sharp accusations at Serbia. He recalled that Kosovo filed its EU membership application in Prague in December 2022.

“The Republic of Kosovo should not and cannot remain a hostage of its northern neighbor, a state that protects and rewards the criminals of this century,” Kurti said in a statement from Kosovo’s government after the meeting.

Kosovo’s prime minister added that Serbia is carrying out “administrative ethnic cleansing of Albanians in the Presevo Valley,” and called on the European Union to grant candidate status without delay. He repeated the same message on Facebook.

“Candidate status for membership, without further delay, is not only deserved but should be the European Union’s response to Kosovo’s loyalty to democratic values and its clear Euro-Atlantic strategic commitment, as well as an encouraging step for greater momentum in our dedication to reform and development,” Kurti wrote on Facebook.

Djuric’s message from the same meeting made no mention of Kosovo or Kurti’s accusations. Serbia’s foreign minister, in his post on X, stuck to regional cooperation.

“Building bridges of cooperation while overcoming old divisions was the key message,” Djuric wrote alongside a photo from the gathering.

The other participants did not leave the meeting with the same talking points either. Konakovic raised the question of senior Serbian officials taking part in commemorative and funeral events for Ratko Mladic, a war criminal convicted by a final verdict, arguing that this cannot be ignored when discussing a candidate country’s European path. Bosnia’s foreign minister recently expelled two staffers from Serbia’s embassy in Sarajevo. Hodza, for his part, stayed on the subject of EU enlargement.

“We stressed the importance of making the European perspective concrete for the entire region,” the Albanian minister said after the meeting.

Kallas had separately met with both Kurti and Vucic a day earlier, saying then that EU integration and the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina must move forward together, and that agreements reached in the dialogue remain binding. Portal Srpske Novine previously reported on Kurti’s separate meeting with Kallas in New York, where Kosovo’s prime minister first raised the same request for candidate status.

Djuric also held a separate meeting in New York that same day, with Sara Rodgers, deputy undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. They discussed US participation in the Expo 2027 specialized exhibition in Belgrade, as well as the fact that 2027 marks 145 years since the Trade Agreement and Consular Convention between Serbia and the United States took effect.

Kosovo’s EU membership application, filed in Prague in December 2022, has not been considered so far. Whether Kallas and the European Commission will respond to that request before the end of the year remains an open question, one that will follow the next rounds of meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.