Next round of Pristina-Belgrade talks will not include Norhtern Kosovo

Northern Kosovo will not be discussed between representatives of the Serbian and Kosovo governments at the forthcoming round of EU-mediated talks, Edita Tahiri, Kosovo’s deputy prime minister, told reporters today.

Speaking after a morning meeting with Robert Cooper, the EU’s dialogue facilitator, Tahiri expressed the Kosovo government’s readiness to continue with the EU’s sponsored talks with Belgrade. But only on the condition that those subjects discussed would remain technical and not territorial.

“According to our conversation held this morning, we received encouraging signals that the Serbian side will be part of the next round of talks within the technical dialogue and that [Belgrade’s] request that the discussion about the [northern Kosovo] border crossings should be tackled during the talks, have been refused by the EU and the US,” Tahiri said.