Serbia and Kosovo take step forward in new talks

The European Union has praised the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo for getting talks on normalising their tense relations back on track and for setting up a face-to-face meeting in Brussels later this week.

It came after Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo prime minister Avdullah Hoti held video talks mediated by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, aimed at resuscitating the Belgradepristina dialogue process, which been frozen since November 2018.

EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak said: “We agreed on the main elements of the process and on the agenda of our next meeting. I thank our partners for their constructive engagement.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia refused to recognise Kosovo’s statehood.