EU praises Serbia, Kosovo for resuming face-to-face talks

The European Union has praised the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo for resuming face-to-face talks at EU headquarters which had been frozen since November 2018.

Former war foes Serbia and Kosovo restarted talks in Brussels on Thursday as the EU urged them to compromise to normalise their strained relationship.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti "show their firm commitment to the EU-facilitated dialogue among them. And I welcome that very much,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

A White House meeting last month between the two sides with US special envoy Richard Grenell failed after a war crimes indictment was issued for Kosovo President Hashim Thaci.

“I am glad to see that the European Union is back in the driver’s seat of the process,” Borrell said.

More than two decades after clashing in war, the Balkan neighbours are still haunted by unresolved tensions that threaten instability in their corner of southeastern Europe.

"Today I expect a constructive discussion on their first element of our talks, which will contribute to the comprehensive normalisation of the relations between Kosovo and Serbia," Borrell, who is chairing the talks with EU special representative Miroslav Lajcak, said in a video statement.

"I encourage both sides to approach today's talks in the sprit of compromise and pragmatism and with the European future for their people in Kosovo and Serbia in their minds."

READ MORE: EU encourages Serbia and Kosovo to reach normalisation agreement

Little progress in the past

The overarching dispute is territorial: Belgrade refuses to recognise the independence that its former province, home mainly to ethnic Albanians, proclaimed in 2008.

Kosovo's statehood has been backed by around 100 countries, including the United States and all but five member states of the European Union.

But Serbia's core allies Russia and China deny it, effectively shutting Kosovo out of the United Nations.

The two sides have been in EU-led talks for a decade to normalise their relationship, but little progress has been made, with a raft of agreements concluded in 2013 yet to be fully implemented.

The latest round of negotiations broke down in 2018 after a series of diplomatic tit-for-tats.

While Kosovo is determined to gain full recognition of its sovereignty, Serbia is under pressure to resolve the issue in order to move forward in its bid to join the EU.

A final accord will need to resolve numerous thorny disputes, including the status of Serb-populated parts of Kosovo, war reparations, and the future of Serbian Orthodox religious sites, among many others.

Both governments also face combustible political situations at home, where any concession to the other side is highly unpopular.

Hoti heads a weak government in Kosovo that "does not enjoy domestic support and is not considered a personality who can lead the process", said Pristina political analyst Imer Mushkolaj.

On the other hand, Vucic is more powerful than ever after his party won a landslide victory in a June parliamentary vote boycotted by Serbia's main opposition.

Yet this total control is in fact a "weak spot" because it comes with "absolute responsibility," said Serbian political analyst Aleksandar Popov.

"It is going to be tough for Vucic to convince foreign partners that he cannot pass something in parliament," Popov told AFP.

The issue is highly sensitive in Serbia, especially among nationalists who consider Kosovo the cradle of their culture and religious heritage.

'Complicated and difficult'

Kosovo is clear that the goal of the talks is "mutual recognition".

But Vucic speaks only vaguely about the need to "accept the reality" of Kosovo, which Belgrade effectively lost control over after the 1998-99 war.

"As far as the situation regarding Kosovo is concerned, it is complicated and difficult for us," Vucic said ahead of the talks.

"I am trying to get what I can for Serbia and to lose only the inevitable minimum."

There is also the question of how the negotiations will go without Kosovo's traditional interlocutor: President Thaci.

The fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb forces claimed some 13,000 lives, mainly Kosovo Albanians.

But the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), of which Thaci was a leader, was accused of reprisals on Serbs and fellow Albanians during and after the conflict.

The war ended when a NATO bombing campaign forced Serb troops to withdraw, putting Kosovo under UN administration.

READ MORE: Kosovo-Serbia: The US should act as a negotiator, not a cartographer