Mijacic: Opening Cluster 3 for Serbia and lifting sanctions on Kosovo would bring new energy into the dialogue

Dragisa Mijacic, Coordinator of the Working Group of the National Convention on the EU for Chapter 35, believes that the decision of the European Council to open Cluster 3 in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations, as well as the decision to lift the punitive measures imposed on the Kosovo government, would bring new energy into the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue.

“That could bring new energy that Mr. Sorensen and Kaja Kallas would then have to nurture. There has to be a starting point, and perhaps this is precisely that beginning – lifting the punitive measures on Kosovo and opening Cluster 3 for Serbia,” Mijacic told Kosovo Online.

He pointed out that the next meeting of the European Council will take place in December and that this is an opportunity to take these steps.

“That European Council meeting must bring some positive decisions regarding Serbia’s progress toward the European Union, in this case the opening of Cluster 3, and regarding the lifting of sanctions or punitive measures toward the Kosovo government. I think the European Council should move in that direction, even though it will be unpopular in both Serbian and Kosovo societies, since it will be seen as a concession to the parties currently in power in Serbia and in Kosovo. But such decisions really must be lifted because they harm both societies,” Mijacic emphasized.