Serbia and Kosovo talks collapse

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — A European Union bid to breathe new life into stalled negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo fell through Wednesday, with Serbia’s president and the Kosovo prime minister failing to meet as planned.

The sitdown was supposed to happen nearly a year after the bitter rivals last met, following repeated rounds of unsuccessful negotiations.

Both Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti had separate meetings with EU representatives, but according to EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, “no progress in implementation of the agreement could be achieved.”

“This time, it has not been a trilateral meeting,” Borell said.

Talks between Serbia and Kosovo aimed at hammering out a landmark deal to pave the way for a semblance of normalized ties all but crumbled last year.

During a high-stakes summit in North Macedonia in March 2023, Vucic refused to sign the EU — and United States-backed Ohrid agreement — citing a pain in his right hand that would likely last “years.”

Diplomats have continued to call for the implementation of the agreement, but the unsigned deal remains unenforced by either side.

These efforts will continue next week, Borrel said, when he will host the two negotiators in Brussels.

Vucic blamed Kurti for the talks failing to materialize, saying his Kosovan counterpart “did not dare to meet.”

Kurti countered by saying that he had put down conditions for the meeting with Vucic to take place, including the handing over of Milan Radoicic — the former vice president of Kosovo’s leading Serb party which admitted to leading a commando squad that ambushed a Kosovo police patrol in September last year.