Lajcak: Serbia and Kosovo should work on de-escalation and implement all agreements

Special Representative of the European Union for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, stated today after talks with representatives of the "big five" and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that the topic of the visit was progress in the implementation of the normalization agreement and de-escalation of the situation in Kosovo in light of recent events, RTV reports.

"We want to make it clear that we strongly condemn the attack on the Kosovo Police on September 24th. All perpetrators of the attack must be brought to justice, and we expect full cooperation from Serbia in this regard," Lajcak said after the meeting.

He added that leaders had a responsibility to their citizens, and both Belgrade and Pristina had to work on de-escalation and normalization of relations.

"We conveyed this message to President Vucic. Serbia and Kosovo entered into new agreements in February and March this year, and we expect both sides to start fulfilling their obligations from both new and old agreements," Lajcak said.

He emphasized that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina would be on the agenda of the meeting of foreign ministers of European countries on Monday, and this issue would also be discussed by EU leaders later this week, at the European Council meeting.

"This visit will directly influence those discussions. As we have said many times, there is no European future for Serbia or Kosovo without the normalization of their relations and the implementation of adopted normalization agreements, both current and previous. We want to see a stable, prosperous, and European Western Balkan region, which is why dialogue is of crucial importance. Our conversation with President Vucic and Prime Minister Albin Kurti will continue in the coming days," Lajcak concluded.

In addition to Lajcak, the meeting with Vucic in Belgrade was attended by the US Deputy Assistant Secretary and Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, as well as the special envoys of Germany, France, and Italy - Emmanuel Bonne, Jens Plotner, and Francesco Tallo.

The "big five" visited Belgrade after their visit to Pristina, where Lajcak, after meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, presented a plan for the continuation of the dialogue and stated that Kosovo had to form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities without further delay.