Kosovo talks round ends, no new agreements

Source: Tanjug, B92

BRUSSELS -- The second day of the latest round of Belgrade-Priština dialogue on technical issues ended on Tuesday without any new agreements.

(EU, file)

Although certain convergence between the two sides' stands has been achieved as regards Priština's presentation at regional forums, no tangible agreement has been made yet, head of Belgrade's negotiating team Borislav Stefanović said and expressed hope that the agreement would be reached in the forthcoming round of talks next week.

Stefanović said that this round can still be qualified as positive because of the agreement on university degrees reached on Monday and the fact that both sides had a chance to voice their stands on all important issues.

We were followed by voices from Belgrade saying that the team has no mandate, that it does not know what it actually wants to achieve and that no agreement would be reached, Stefanović said and added that he hopes that those who said this now see that they were wrong.

Head of Priština's negotiating team Edita Tahiri confirmed that certain convergence between the stands regarding Priština's representation has been achieved, but she also noted that Belgrade and Priština are still divided by deep conceptual differences.

She expressed disappointment that apart from the university degrees, no agreement has been reached on other issues, such as crossings, electricity and telephone lines, and accused Belgrade of not performing the agreements reached so far.

She fears that this could end in mere production of papers and no tangible implementation of agreements.