TIRANA – “We are happy to announce that the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia will meet at the White House for a negotiation on September 2,” US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell tweeted on Friday.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic separately confirmed that they will travel to Washington.
“Kosovo is blessed with its friends,” said Hoti welcoming the invitation.
“On September 2, with Serbian side, as independent countries, we will meet at the White House for major projects that will change the economic perspective of Kosovo and the region,” Hoti wrote on Twitter.
However Vucic told private Serbian broadcaster TV Pink that Serbia was not in the position to refuse the talks.
“Serbia is not in a position, and it would not be good to refuse talks,” Vucic said. “The topics, as far as I talked to Grenell, will be economic. These are good topics for us,” he said. However, the Serbian leader took issue with the term “negotiation” used by Grenell in his tweet, said RFE/RL.
The initial meeting within the White House initiative was scheduled for June 27 but was cancelled when a draft war crimes indictment against Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci emerged. A special war crimes court in The Hague is yet to confirm the charges, which include nearly 100 murders allegedly carried out by ethnic Albanian guerrillas under Thaci’s command during their war for independence from Serbia in 1998-99 and later.
Nabila Massrali, spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs and security policy, welcomed Grenell’s announcement, but reaffirmed Brussels’ center-stage role in talks to normalize ties between Kosovo and Serbia and bring them closer to the 27-member bloc.
“The path to the European Union for Kosovo and Serbia leads through the EU-facilitated dialogue. The EU as the facilitator of the dialogue has worked since 2011 with Belgrade and Pristina towards a comprehensive normalization of their relations,” Massrali said in an e-mail to RFE/RL.
“When it comes to the involvement of third parties in efforts to help Kosovo and Serbia to agree on the comprehensive normalization of their relations, we welcome all initiatives in support of the EU-facilitated dialogue.
“In this regard, we take note of the announcement by Ambassador Grenell,” Massrali said.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia still refuses to recognize the move and is blocking Kosovo from international organizations.
The US abruptly became involved in Serbia-Kosovo relations late last year with Grenell’s appointment. His aggressive approach has cut the European Union, which had been mediating the normalization process since 2011, out of the process.
The EU-brokered talks produced multiple agreements seeking to normalize relations in the region, but not much of it had been implemented. The talks stalled altogether at least two years ago. /Compiled from wires- argumentum.al
