European Union special envoy Peter Sorensen met senior Serbian officials in Belgrade on Friday as part of efforts to unblock stalled talks between Serbia and Kosovo on normalizing relations.
Sorensen held talks with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric and Petar Petkovic, head of Serbia’s government office for Kosovo, the latest stop in a regional visit that also included meetings in Pristina.
After the meeting, Djuric said stronger international engagement was needed in Kosovo and reiterated Belgrade’s position that the formation of an association of Serb-majority municipalities was essential to reviving what he called a “meaningful dialogue”.
“The establishment of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities and the fulfilment of all agreed obligations are necessary for lasting stability,” Djuric said in a post on social media.
Petkovic told Sorensen that any tangible progress in the EU-mediated dialogue required concrete steps toward forming the association and opening discussions on its statute, Serbia’s Kosovo office said in a statement.
The association is a key provision of the Ohrid Agreement reached in 2023 under EU auspices, which sets out an 11-point framework for normalizing relations between Serbia and Kosovo. The agreement includes provisions on limited self-management for Kosovo’s Serb community, mutual recognition of state symbols and Serbia’s commitment not to block Kosovo’s membership in international organisations.
Neither side has fully implemented the agreement, and both accuse the other of failing to meet its obligations.
Sorensen earlier met Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina, where he said he hoped 2026 would bring progress that failed to materialise last year. He said a high-level meeting between the two sides would take place “at an appropriate time”.
This is Sorensen’s first visit to Belgrade and Pristina since his mandate as EU envoy was extended for a further two years. During his previous term, the dialogue made little progress, largely due to domestic political tensions in both Serbia and Kosovo.
The EU has mediated talks between Serbia and Kosovo since 2011, with the normalisation of relations a key condition for both countries’ ambitions to join the European Union.