Joint statement by the President of the French Republic, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic on the EU-facilitated Dialogue on normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia

We, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Olaf Scholz and President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, Giorgia Meloni, joined by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell and the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues, Miroslav Lajcak, met with the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in the margins of the European Council on 26 October 2023.

We welcome the engagement of the two Parties in the discussions yesterday in Brussels. We take good note of the comments made by the two leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to the European Statute for the establishment of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities in Kosovo and their expressed readiness to implement. The draft statute we presented and fully endorse encompasses a modern European way to address the sensitive issue of minority protection in line with best European practices and standards, within the parameters defined by Parties.

We therefore once again underline our expectation for the Parties to deliver on their commitments to implement the Agreement on the Path to Normalisation. The implementation phase should progress with both Parties delivering on their respective obligations in parallel in a step-by-step manner based on the principle that both Parties need to do something to get something. The focus should now be on advancing on the full implementation of the Agreement without preconditions or delays. In order to make quick progress in the implementation, we call on Kosovo to launch the procedure to establish the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities in Kosovo as prescribed in the draft Statute, and on Serbia to deliver on de-facto recognition. Formalities, including related to adoption, should not stand in the way of progress on this issue. We now expect Kosovo and Serbia to swiftly agree on the details in the EU-facilitated Dialogue. In the absence of progress on normalisation of relations both Parties risk losing important opportunities.