Government says there is little chance of a quick meeting with Serbia

Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gërvalla, has said that Kosovo and Serbia are far from a high-level meeting, announced by the EU High Representative, Kaja Kallas. Kosovo had conditioned the high-level meetings, among other things, on the surrender of the leader of the terrorist group, Milan Radojčić. Bringing him to justice was also mentioned by the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, in the meeting with Kallas, held on Thursday evening.

The intention of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, to bring the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to the table has not received the approval of representatives of the Kosovo executive. The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gërvalla, has said that Kosovo and Serbia are far from holding a high-level meeting. Gërvalla said that they have never rejected dialogue but that they do not violate the established principles.

"Returning to dialogue is not necessary because we have never interrupted the dialogue. Sorensen has been in both Kosovo and Serbia continuously. There have been continuous meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi. Our talks have never stopped, so there is no need, if she says returning to dialogue, she probably means trilateral meetings, but we are far from that. Serbia must prove its commitment to dialogue, not only through the implementation of the February 2023 agreement, but also through the extradition of Radoicic. Vučić has been continuously giving international promises that he will arrest Radoicic, but months and months and even years have passed and there has been no movement," said Gërvalla, in a statement to the media, after the 20th failure of the constitution of the Assembly.

Vetëvendosje Movement MP and acting minister, Donika Gërvalla, has said that there is "no point of understanding" for those who demand further movement from Kosovo and do not punish Serbia for the Banjska attack.

"We have never rejected dialogue, we have always been constructive, but we have been principled. We do not violate our principles in dialogue, but we seek the best possible solution for the normalization of our relations. Mutual recognition is the solution and that is why we are working to find more support," Gervalla said on Friday.

The high-level meeting within the framework of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia was announced by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, a day ago.

"I am ready to contribute my time and energy to this process of normalizing relations because it is in the interest of the citizens of Kosovo as well as Serbia. So we have the new appointed representative, Mr. Peter Sorensen, and we have sat down together to see what has worked and what has not worked in this process. I think the first thing is to sit down with both sides, now we have done it separately, (to see) how to move forward with this process. The Ohrid Agreement is a fact and it must be implemented by both sides," Kallas said at a press conference on Thursday, during her visit to Kosovo.

A year ago, Kosovo's acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti conditioned his meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on several actions by the Serbian side. Among them was the extradition of the leader of the terrorist group, Milan Radoićić.

His surrender to Kosovo's justice institutions was mentioned by Kurti in the meeting he held with Kallas on Thursday night.

"Regarding the EU-mediated dialogue process, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of the full implementation of the Basic Agreement and its Annex. While recalling that Serbia must be held responsible for the terrorist and paramilitary attack in Banjska and that the main terrorist Milan Radoićić, for whom there is already a 160-page indictment from the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kosovo, must be handed over to Kosovo," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

High-level meetings between the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, have not taken place since September 14, 2023, a week before the terrorist attack in Banjska. Kurti and Vučić have held separate meetings with senior officials of the European Union.