Lajcak: Meeting of chief negotiators in Brussels in the coming days

Special Representative of the EU for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, stated after a meeting with Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, in Pristina that today's discussion focused on many unresolved issues, highlighting two topics as the most important - the implementation of agreed-upon deals and the recent decree issued by the Central Bank of Kosovo regarding the cessation of transactions in dinars.

Lajcak informed reporters that today's brief visit was a part of his regular discussions with the heads of negotiation teams and that he had decided to come to Pristina because he and Bislimi had agreed it would be beneficial to meet in person and converse.

During the meeting, several issues were discussed, says Lajcak, emphasizing two as the most crucial.

"One relates to the agreement regarding the normalization process, which is very important for the dialogue," Lajcak said, mentioning that they had discussed the agreement accepted in Brussels last year, the implementation of which, he noted, had not yet commenced.

"We would like to see better progress in the implementation process, and we discussed how to expedite the implementation. The second issue we discussed, which is also important, is the recent decree of the Central Bank of Kosovo and payment transactions. This issue is relevant to the dialogue and is very important," he said.

He recalled that he organized a meeting in Brussels last week, on February 27th, and said that the meeting had been constructive, managing to find answers to several questions. However, there were still issues that were not within the competence of the experts who had attended the meeting, which he had discussed with Bislimi today.

He announced that discussions would continue and that he planned to organize another meeting at the level of the heads of negotiation teams in the coming days.

"That is the main reason for my visit to Pristina today," he said.

When asked if answers were found regarding the political issues related to the decree of the CBK, Lajcak said that the responses received must be analyzed, as well as what was still unanswered.

"We need to ensure that in the end, there won't be people, citizens, individuals negatively affected, that's also our concern," he emphasizes.

Regarding Besnik Bislimi's absence on February 27th in Brussels, Lajcak says that for that meeting in Brussels, he left it open for both sides to choose who would represent them.

In that regard, he recalls that Kosovo was represented by the governor of the CBK, while Serbia was represented by the head of the negotiating team, Petar Petkovic.

"We also need to discuss this issue at the level of chief negotiators, and that's the next step," he notes.

When it comes to the implementation of the agreements reached, Lajcak says that it is in everyone's interest to accelerate the implementation process.

Commenting on the agreement accepted last year in Brussels, the EU Special Envoy states that this agreement is the best Serbia and Kosovo could have obtained.

"I am sure of that. If there were a better agreement, it would have already been proposed, so it is in everyone's interest to start implementation because with this agreement, we have answers to the questions of what to do and how to do it, and the only question we don't have an answer to is when, and my question is why wait. This agreement is good, and implementation should start as soon as possible. We have spent a lot of time discussing the steps; there is fear on both sides that if they do what is asked of them, will the other side do it too, but I believe those questions can be easily resolved," Lajcak concluded.