Kosovo and Serbia agree to restart Dialogue after Video Summit with Merkel and Macron

Brussels, July 10, 2020

On July 10, 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosted a video summit and agreed to resume EU-backed normalization talks between Kosovo and Serbia. The video summit was attended by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell and Miroslav Lajcak, the EU’s special envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Vucic said “we had really tough negotiations,” and that he told Macron and Merkel that if Kosovo’s independence “is what they want to talk about, then these talks are completely meaningless.”

Hoti on Sunday reaffirmed Kosovo’s stance that the talks have to end in mutual recognition.

The talks will resume on July 12 with a video conference hosted by the European Union, the German government said in a statement on July 10.

“President Macron and Chancellor Merkel encourage President Vucic and Prime Minister Hoti to make substantial progress in negotiations,” the German government statement read.