Ashton Consults Leaders Ahead of Kosovo-Serbia Talks

The EU High Representative is to meet the Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolic, the Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksander Vucic, on March 11 in Brussels, Ashton's office said on Friday.

On Thursday, Ashton plans to visit Kosovo to meet the Kosovo Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, and the leaders of political parties.

The seventh meeting of the prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, taking place within the framework of an EU-mediated dialogue, will be held on March 20 in Brussels.

Dacic and Thaci are expected to flesh out the modalities of dismantling Serbian-financed "parallel" institutions in the Serb-run north of Kosovo and discuss the future operations of an "Association of Serbian Municipalities" in Kosovo, which the Kosovo authorities have agreed to endorse.

Ahead of the Brussels meeting, Dacic said that the two sides were close to an agreement on the Association of Serbian Municipalities.

"However, we still have not agreed on its jurisdiction, which is very important, because this is the only way to solve the issue of parallel institutions,” the Serbian leader said.

The EU-mediated technical dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia was launched in March 2011. The aim is to normalize relations between the two countries, both of which aspire to EU membership.

Serbia currently does not recognise Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. But Belgrade says it is open to agreements that benefit ordinary people on both sides of the [from Serbia's point of view unrecognised] border.

The dialogue meanwhile continues to face strong opposition from nationalists in Kosovo who say it concedes too much to Serbia.

On Friday, the Kosovo parliament blocked a planned speech of Thaci to lawmakers, 41 of whom voted against “the urgent report” of the Kosovo PM on his last meeting with Dacic.

“We don’t agree with this motion because this issue is not urgent”, Ismet Beqiri, MP of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, said.