Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has reiterated that the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is only political and it should be finalized with mutual recognition.
In a press conference with Albanian opposition leader Lulzim Basha on Monday, Hoti said there won’t be dialogue on technical issues with Serbia.
“The dialogue is only political, for mutual recognition. On Thursday, there will be another meeting in Brussels, attended by the national coordinator, who will be appointed soon…. There is no technical dialogue, but mutual recognition and normalization of relations,” he stated.
He reiterated this in a Facebook post also.
Marko Duric, an official of the Serbian government, refuted the claim and accused Hoti of manipulating the Kosovo and international public.
He told B92 that “recognition of Kosovo will not be discussed on Thursday or at any time.”
Kosovo and Serbia resumed the EU-facilitated dialogue last week after a 20 months hiatus.
The EU aims for both countries to resolve all outstanding issues between them and normalize their relations.
However, Kosovo and Serbia understand different things by “normalization of relations”; for Kosovo it includes “mutual recognition”, but for Serbia it means recognition of current circumstances, and it excludes recognition of Kosovo.
