Serbia, Kosovo leaders resume face-to-face talks at EU

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo resumed face-to-face discussions at the European Union headquarters in Brussels on Thursday for the first time since November 2018.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell welcomed the commitment to the EU-facilitated dialogue by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.

Vucic described the talks as difficult and said they focused on the issues of the missing and the displaced, economic cooperation.

He said talks will continue next Wednesday on a technical level before politicians meet again.

There are more than 1,600 people still missing from the Kosovo conflict, including 570 Serbs and other non-Albanians, while the rest are ethnic Albanians, Vucic said.

"I think we were serious and responsible, that it could be seen during the dialogue that we came there to talk, that we really came to make progress," said Vucic, "it is now up to the Europeans to judge what was the approach of the other side."

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, around a decade after Belgrade sent troops into its former territory to crush an uprising by ethnic Albanian separatists.

Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo's statehood, and tensions have simmered ever since.

A White House meeting last month between the two sides with US special envoy Richard Grenell failed after a war crimes indictment was issued for Kosovo President Hashim Thaci.