EU: For Kosovo and Serbia, the path to the EU is through dialogue

Kosovo's and Serbia's path to the European Union passes through dialogue. This is what the EU's spokesperson for Foreign Policy, Peter Stano, told TIME.

He said that the EU will engage with both sides for the further continuation of this process.

Stano said that the dialogue has not stopped, it is continuing, and that the emissary for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak, is continuing his commitments regarding this process.

He further did not give any date when the next meeting between the two countries can be held, adding that they will announce the next meetings whenever it is convenient.

"The European Union will continue to engage with interlocutors in Kosovo for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. It is not for us, the EU, to choose our interlocutors, but for Kosovo and its authorities to decide how their interests are best served and represented. For Kosovo and Serbia, the road to the EU goes through dialogue," he said.

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Stano has stated that the final agreement depends on both countries and their ability to continue and find the necessary consensus. He said that they are working so that this process does not last for years.

"The European Union is not the one that sets the deadlines, they depend on the ability of both parties to continue and find the necessary consensus - Borrell and Lajcak have emphasized several times that they are not setting a deadline, but they are working that this process will it will last for months and not years", he said.

Speaking about the decision of the Constitutional Court, about overthrowing the Hoti Government and going to new elections, Stano said that the institutions should continue with the appropriate steps that are in accordance with the decision.

The dialogue resumed in the fall after a meeting at the White House, in the presence of former president Donald Trump, from which both countries came out with a list of commitments. After that, several other meetings were held at the expert level as well between the Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, but the final agreement between the two countries seems to be distant, since Vučić states that he will not recognize Kosovo the Kosovar side says that there will be no final agreement without mutual recognition.

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American expert on Balkan issues, Daniel Server, told TIME that the change of Government in Kosovo will slow down the dialogue with Serbia even more. But he added that this political situation does not diminish the importance of the latter in the dialogue.

Meanwhile, the connoisseur of Balkan affairs, Bodo Weber, has considered that with the involvement of the Joe Biden administration, there will be a return of close transatlantic cooperation and a real restoration of Kosovo-Serbia talks.