Brussels: Sorensen summons Petkovic and Bislimi for Friday talks

The European Union Special Envoy for the Belgrade and Pristina dialogue Peter Sorensen has called on Wednesday a special round of consultations in Brussels. The chief negotiators for Belgrade and Pristina, Petar Petkovic and Besnik Bislimi, arrive on Friday for a meeting scheduled for midday at the seat of the European External Action Service.

The convening of an extraordinary meeting before the European Union and Western Balkans summit, held in Tivat on June 5, is a diplomatic signal that Brussels wants concrete movement before the delegations of heads of state and government sit at the same table in Montenegro. For Serbia, which signed a memorandum of cooperation with China in May and which is running parallel talks with Washington on energy sanctions, this meeting is a test of its ability to keep up multi-vector diplomacy without losing the Brussels track.

Central themes of the talks

According to a briefing by sources close to the European External Action Service, Friday’s agenda covers three key items. The first is the status of the Ohrid Annex agreements and technical steps for their implementation. The second covers the question of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, where a German constitutional law model has previously been considered as a possible basis. The third item is energy cooperation and the status of the power transmission grid between Belgrade and Pristina.

Bislimi said earlier this week, in a statement to the Pristina paper Koha Ditore, that Pristina is “ready to talk on technical aspects” of the agreements, but insists on “full implementation of obligations on both sides”. Petkovic said in Belgrade on Tuesday that Serbia takes part in the dialogue “in good faith”, but will not accept formulations that breach UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

The status of the Community of Serbian Municipalities remains one of the key unfulfilled elements of the 2013 Brussels Agreement, and the European Union expects concrete steps from both sides, Sorensen said on Tuesday to Politico EU.

Position of European institutions

EU High Representative Kaja Kallas announced on Wednesday that she will personally attend part of the Friday talks, signalling the political weight of the meeting. Kallas took up the mandate in December 2024 and in the first months kept a measured tone on the dialogue, with focus on Ukraine. Her presence on Friday is a tectonic shift in the new Brussels team’s engagement.

Diplomatic activity in the run up to Friday includes:

• Sorensen’s consultations with the French minister for Europe on Tuesday
• a conversation between the Paris special envoy for the Western Balkans and Petkovic
• preparation of a joint non-paper by Paris, Berlin and Rome
• Washington’s consultations with Sorensen on coordination with the EU
• a meeting of the Brussels team with the diplomats of Italy and Hungary

Washington signalled through the State Department on Tuesday that it supports Sorensen’s activity and expects a “constructive approach” from both sides. US Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill announced a special conversation with Petkovic on Wednesday ahead of the Brussels trip.

Implications for the Tivat summit

Without concrete progress on Friday, the Tivat summit on June 5 could be burdened with paragraphs in the conclusions that relate to the dialogue. Belgrade is pressing for the conclusions to contain a reference to Resolution 1244 and to Serbia’s territorial integrity, while Pristina is seeking a reference to the Ohrid Annex and the obligation to implement all agreements.

Consultations by Serbia’s chief negotiator with EU members over the past ten days have covered fifteen capitals. The hardest talks Belgrade held were with Berlin, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz retains continuity with the previous federal government’s line, and with Paris, where President Emmanuel Macron conditions progress on concrete rule of law steps.

What comes after Friday

After the Friday meeting, Sorensen submits a report to the European External Action Service on the outcome of the consultations. The report forms the basis for the paragraphs on the dialogue in the draft conclusions of the Tivat summit. Petkovic and Bislimi meet again in Brussels on June 18, after the Montenegro summit, with the aim of agreeing operational implementation of any deals from Tivat.

The next EU General Affairs Council session on June 17 in Luxembourg will consider a special package of benchmarks for progress in the dialogue, based on Sorensen’s report and the European Commission’s assessment. Belgrade has signalled through the negotiating team its readiness for “constructive talks”, on condition that the paragraphs on Resolution 1244 stay in the text.

Will Friday’s consultations produce a technical breakthrough, or will Belgrade and Pristina enter Tivat with positions not aligned on the Ohrid Annex and the Community of Serbian Municipalities?