State Department: Progress needed on existing agreements, including the establishment of the CSM

The US State Department has expressed disappointment that no progress had been made in the new round of Kosovo-Serbia dialogue for the normalization of relations, as reported by Radio Free Europe.

"We expect both countries to take their obligations under the Agreement on the Normalization of Relations seriously, which they reached earlier this year. Time is running out. We want to see progress regarding existing and previous commitments made in the dialogue and the Ohrid Agreement, including the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities," the spokesperson for the US State Department said on September 14th to RFE.

"We will consult internally and with our European partners on the next steps," he added.

According to him, "the dialogue facilitated by the EU is the only way forward for Kosovo and Serbia."

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic met in Brussels on Thursday with the mediation of EU's Chief of Foreign Policy Josep Borrell and EU Special Representative for the Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak.

"The meeting, with the implementation of the Basic Agreement for the normalization of relations on the agenda, did not achieve any results," Borrell said.

According to him, Kurti was the one who did not accept the EU's proposal for the simultaneous implementation of the obligations arising from that agreement, while Vucic accepted it.

Borrell said that Kurti had insisted on formalizing, above all, Serbia's de facto recognition of Kosovo, while Vucic had sought the formation of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in Kosovo.

Kurti was "unwilling to move forward with the credible process of forming the Community," Borrell said.

Kurti stated that Serbia's "conditioning" for the formation of the CSM "has turned into the position of an EU envoy."

According to Vucic, Kurti simply "avoided the formation of the Community... That's the essence of it all."