Serbia, Kosovo leaders in new talks, same issues

The European Union's foreign affairs chief on Sunday stressed the need to find a "comprehensive, final and legally binding normalization agreement" between Serbia and Kosovo, ahead of EU-mediated talks between the two sides.

"Such an agreement is crucial for a better future (for) the people of Kosovo and Serbia," said Josep Borrell. "It is crucial for the European prospective and for the security and stability of the region."

Talks between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo, aimed at normalizing their long-strained relations, resumed more than 20 years after Belgrade sent troops into its former territory to crush an uprising by ethnic Albanian separatists.

Mediated by Borrell over video conference, they are aimed at setting up a face-to-face meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, possibly in Brussels on Thursday.

The process, known as the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, has been frozen since November 2018.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move that Belgrade refuses to recognize, and tensions have simmered ever since.

The EU-facilitated negotiations, which the Europeans say are the only way to address their membership aspirations, started in March 2011 and have produced some 30 agreements, but most of them have not been observed.