New round of Belgrade-Pristina talks to be held on Monday

BELGRADE / BRUSSELS - The 23rd round of the EU-facilitated dialogue on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, expected to deal with the issues of judiciary and the setting up of the Community of Serb municipalities (ZSO), will be held in Brussels on Monday.

First Deputy Prime Minister of the outgoing Serbian government and future prime minister Aleksandar Vucic and outgoing Prime Minister Ivica Dacic will represent Serbia.

The talks between the Belgrade officials with Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci, facilitated by European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, are expected to touch on a range of issues and the implementation of that which has already been agreed.

One of the topics of the meeting should be the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court in Kosovska Mitrovica, which Pristina wants to include a total of seven municipalities, three of which are populated with an Albanian majority.

Belgrade believes that the proposal is not in the spirit of the Brussels agreement from April 19 last year, as the ethnic structure of judges and prosecutors of such a court would be a majority Albanian one.

Another unresolved issue is the civil protection in the Kosovo north, currently under the control of local authorities, which Pristina seeks to become part of the Kosovo system under the auspices of the Kosovo Security Force.

The Serbian side is resolutely opposed to the idea, because the Kosovo government, as earlier media reports said, plans to transform the Kosovo Security Force into a future Kosovo army.

The new round of talks is expected to begin Monday afternoon.

Photo EU, Mario Salerno,