Serbia: Kosovo’s PM Blames EU Envoy For Failure Of Talks

Kosovo’s Prime Minister has accused the European Union’s special envoy in normalization talks with Serbia of not being “neutral and correct” and of coordinating with Belgrade against Pristina.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti said EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak had coordinated with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in the EU-facilitated talks held last week in Brussels.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, who supervised the talks in Brussels, blamed the latest breakdown on Kurti’s insistence that Serbia should essentially recognize his Country before progress could be made on enforcing a previous agreement reached in February.

Borrell has warned that the lack of progress could hurt both Serbia’s and Kosovo’s hopes of joining the bloc.

Serbia and its former province of Kosovo have been at odds for decades. Their 1998-1999 war, which ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian military and police forces pull out of Kosovo, left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade has refused to recognize.

AP