Serbia and Kosovo to Resume Talks Soon

The next round of EU-mediated talks between Belgrade and Pristina starts on February 21, Maja Kocijancic, a spokesperson for the EU foreign policy chief, confirmed.

The agenda will cover the vexed issue of Kosovo's representation at regional meetings, which is a sticking point for the two sides.

"The two sides managed to achieve certain convergence of stands [on this point], after EU mediator Robert Cooper invested intensive efforts to this purpose," Kocijancic explained.

News that the dialogue is to resume broke after Cooper returned from a visit to Kosovo where he held talks with officials.

In the past two months, Cooper has held meetings with both sides and organised numerous video and telephone conferences between Belgrade and Pristina.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. But Serbia does not recognise the new country and Belgrade has refused to participate in fora and conferences where Kosovo is represented as an independent country with its own state symbols.

During the negotiations, Pristina has been insisting that Kosovo be represented as "The Republic of Kosovo", a forumula that Belgrade finds unacceptable.

Belgrade has insisted on Kosovo being represented in regional talks with a reference to the 1999 UN Security Council Resolution on Kosovo, Number 1244, which Pristina rejects.

Reaching a deal that allows Serbia and Kosovo both to attend regional conferences was one of the conditions set by Europe for Serbia to obtain EU candidacy.

Last December, the European Council postponed a decision on Serbia's candidacy bid, conditioning candidate status on further progress in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

The Council is to return to the issue of Serbia's candidate status on February 28.

“A day before the Foreign Affairs Council meets it will look at the progress in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina,” Kocijancic recently said.

The EU-mediated dialogue started in March 2011 with a view to normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia, both of which hope to join the EU one day.

The two sides have reached deals on trade, freedom of movement, cadastral registry and mutual recognition of university diplomas.