Kosovo talks: No agreement after 17 hours of negotiations

A new round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina ended without agreement after 17 hours of talks, a B92 reporter in Brussels has said.
Source: B92, Tanjug Tuesday, June 30, 2015 | 09:16

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Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told journalists that the two delegations reached no agreement on any of the four issues they discussed.
Vucic said that the delegations were very close to reaching an agreement on the future Community Serb municipalities (ZSO).

"The Pristina delegation did not want to accept even those powers for the ZSO that municipalities have, which are powers in the field of urban planning, health and economic development", said he.

Vucic added that progress has been made in connection with telecommunications, but no agreement was finalized.

"We have managed to preserve the assets of Telekom (Srbija) and we agreed that calling codes toward central Serbia will not be billed as international," said Vucic.

There has been practically no progress on the remaining two topics - energy and Peace Park on the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica - the prime minister noted.

"I fear that the Pristina side came here not to sign the agreement," he stressed, adding that the Belgrade delegation had negotiated "in good faith and was ready to reach agreements."

Vucic said he did not know when the next round of the EU-facilitated dialogue would take place.

Asked whether the failure to reach agreements on Monday would have repercussions on Serbia's EU integration, Vucic said he "could not answer" but was willing to "personally assume all the responsibility and all the consequences."

Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa told reporters that progress has been made in connection with the SZO and telecommunications, but that his delegation could not accept the demands of the Belgrade side.

"They were asking for executive powers for the ZSO, and it is against our law and constitution," explained Mustafa.

He confirmed that there had been progress on telecommunications and that agreement was reached on the international calling code for Kosovo, but that it was not signed because "the international community wants all four topics to be signed as one package."

Mustafa also said that the date for the next round of the dialogue depends on EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.