BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Leaders of the European Union on Friday welcomed dialogue efforts between Serbia and Kosovo and urged them to normalise relations after last month’s violence at a village in northern Kosovo.
“We welcome the engagement of the two parties in the discussions held yesterday in Brussels,” the leaders of France, Germany and Italy said in a joint statement released following a summit of European heads of state and government.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti met a European delegation which included the leaders of France, Italy and Germany, along with top EU officials, the statement said.
Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina have run high since Sept. 24, when around 30 armed Serbs stormed the village of Banjska in Kosovo’s predominantly Serb north and barricaded themselves into a Serbian Orthodox monastery.
Police recaptured the monastery after a shootout in which three attackers and a Kosovo police officer were killed, and the gunbattle prompted new international concern over stability in Kosovo.
Kosovo has an ethnic Albanian majority and declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and a 1999 NATO intervention.
“Without progress in normalising relations, both sides risk missing important opportunities,” the EU leaders said.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Alistair Bell)
