The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci and President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic were presented with a draft of the final agreement during their meeting at the White House. Pristina based portal Periskopi quotes sources saying that the draft agreement consists of two options: border correction or Association Plus, with specific requirements from Serbia. According to these sources, the latter is a favoured option of US mediators.
Periskopi also revealed that the upcoming stage of talks will be dynamic and akin to the Rambouillet peace talks. The parties will be allegedly presented by an offer of the ‘take-it-or-leave-it” type – which is contrary to the Vienna negotiations, which lasted about two years.
Periskopi writes, citing its sources, that Serbia was not asked to stop its campaign for derecognition of Kosovo until June which is the final time for when the U.S. expects an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia to be reached.
In addition, the dialogue format will be at the level of presidents supported by their teams. The parties were also offered the chance to meet the U.S. President Donald Trump. The opportunity was however postponed for the time of ‘Grand Deal‘.
Should the two sides reach no deal, Thaci and Vucic have been alerted to the possibility of sanctions.
Thaci told a press conference yesterday that the recent meeting at the White House took a critical and dramatic turn.
America has finally taken over the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, he added, which requires the dialogue to be concluded at the earliest opportunity
From Trump’s invitation to Thaci and Vucic to come to the White House to sign a grand agreement two years ago to the current denials and reading between the lines
Only two days ago, world-renowned journalist and publicist, Tim Judah speculated that a land swap was discussed in Washington, citing his source.
No Serbian recognition of Kosovo but Serbia would not prevent UN accession and if that is the case then it is not expected Russia (or China) would veto – Judah said.
The US Special Envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Richard Grenell refutted Judah’s allegations immediately.
“Wrong. You don’t know what you are talking about. No one is trying to move quickly and there is no grand deal. You are making stuff up,” Grenell tweeted.
Judah’s claims were also denied by the Serbian President.
„No grand deal was discussed and nothing like that exists,“ Vucic announced in Belgrade, while Hashim Thaci said: „It is likely that something will be achieved that has not achieved in two decades.“
In addition to speculations on the possible deal one may recall Mr. Trump’s letter two years ago: “I look forward to hosting you and President Aleksandar Vucic at the White House to celebrate what would be an historic accord,” he wrote Kosovo’s president in December 2018.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
