EU envoy urges Kosovo and Serbia to resume efforts to normalize ties through talks

Associated Press

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The European Union envoy for the Western Balkans has urged Kosovo and Serbia  step up their efforts at normalization talks, saying these are decisive on their path toward membership into the bloc. Miroslav Lajcak was visiting Kosovo’s capital Pristina Friday, where he met with Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, who is in charge of the Kosovo side of the EU-facilitated talks. The EU and the United States are pressing both sides to implement agreements that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti reached in February and March last year. Kosovo-Serbia ties remain tense and the 13-year-long normalization talks facilitated by the European Union have failed to make progress. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, proclaimed in 2008.