EU Special Representative for Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Miroslav Lajčak and US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar said during their stay in Pristina that the international community is concerned about what happened on 31 July, and have received assurances from Pristina leaders that they do not want the situation to escalate.
After the meeting between Lajčak, Escobar and leaders of the temporary Pristina institutions and the opposition in Kosovo, Lajčak said that the most important message was to show the unity of the EU and the US.
“We are working side by side when it comes to the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Secondly, the international community is very concerned about what we saw on the ground on 31 July and expects that all together, the negotiators, the leadership of Kosovo and the leadership of Serbia will not allow it to happen again on 31 August.That’s why we’re here,” Lajčak said.
He pointed out that it is up to Pristina to ensure that nothing bad will happen on 1st September.
Lajčak didn’t talk about the details of the meeting with the prime minister and the president of the temporary institutions of Pristina, Aljbin Kurti and Vjosa Osmani, but added that he is optimistic.
“If I didn’t believe there was a solution, I wouldn’t have come. As I said, this was an essential and useful meeting, but we will see after this meeting”, concluded the EU Special Representative for Belgrade-Prostina Dialogue.
Escobar, on the other hand, said after the meeting with Pristina leaders that they assured him that there would be no violence on 1st September, when Pristina’s decision on reciprocity with identity cards and license plates was announced to take effect.