The talks had high hopes: EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini met with Serbian President Vucic and the President of the Republic of Kosovo Hashim Thaci in Brussels. A stocktaking of the largely unsuccessful mediation in the Kosovo conflict that has been going on for years should be made. But even before joint talks broke the Serbian representative Vucic this round and returned to Belgrade.
Vucic refused to meet his Kosovo counterpart Thaci. The reason for this would be the "deceptions, threats and lies of the Albanians," said Marko Djuric, responsible for Kosovo in the Belgrade government.
The Kosovo, which was almost entirely inhabited by Albanians, had left Serbia ten years ago. Serbia, however, wants to have the youngest state in Europe back by referring to its medieval monasteries and battlefields located there. The fact that the border between Kosovo and Serbia is being called into question again has to do with the fact that Europe and the US have apparently softened their position on the Kosovo issue.
A few weeks ago, Serbia and Kosovo had proposed a territorial exchange. Germany and several EU states vehemently reject it in order to resolve the decades-long conflict. However, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn told Newspaper "The World" that he would not reject a territorial swap from the outset. This had increased the hopes for a normalization of relations. However, today Mogherini only met separately with the government representatives Vucic and Thaci. The planned joint meeting could not take place.