Kosovo and Serbia Still at Odds on Northern Deal

Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister, Hajredin Kuci, told Balkan Insight that Kosovo is aiming for an agreement on the Serb-run north as soon as possible, to be implemented under EU and US auspices.

In the seventh round of EU-mediated talks in Brussels on Wednesday, the Prime Ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci, are expected to flesh out the modalities of dismantling Serbian-financed "parallel" institutions in the north and discuss the future operations of an "Association of Serbian Municipalities" there.

However, an EU diplomat told Balkan Insight that the two sides are still at odds over who, besides the EU mission EULEX, will appoint judges in the north of Kosovo and on the number of Serbian officers operating in the Kosovo police in the north.

According to Kuci, Kosovo seeks a “clear timeline on implementing and supervising” the agreement.

“We expect the first tangible results in implementing what is agreed on the north of Kosovo to be seen by June,” Kuci told Balkan Insight.

Serbian officials, meanwhile, confirmed that an agreement on the north is far from a done deal as far as Belgrade is concerned.

“Some people from Brussels are saying that this round [of EU-led talks] is crucial, but we say it is not, because an agreement is not in sight,” Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Suzana Grubjesic said on Wednesday.

Since the end of the Kosovo conflict in the late 1990s, the north of Kosovo has been beyond the Kosovo government's control while Serbia has continued to finance local security, judicial, health and educational institutions.

The dispute over the north remains ongoing, and the two sides failed to reach a deal on it in Brussels on March 4.

Ahead of the next round of talks, the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, travelled to Belgrade and Pristina last week to try to resolve the future shape of the judicial system in the north.

The EU-mediated technical dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia was launched in March 2011, three years after Kosovo declared independence.

The aim is to normalize relations between the two countries, both of which aspire to EU membership, in the context of Serbia's continued refusal to recognise Kosovo's independence.