"No further progress" in technical Kosovo dialogue - EU

"No further progress has been achieved" in this week's technical level dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

A statement noted that "chief negotiators from Belgrade and Pristina Marko Djuric and Avni Arifi, together with their respective teams, met in Brussels March 21-23."

They "followed up on their previous discussions on the outstanding implementation of various agreements reached between the two sides within the EU facilitated dialogue, in particular the agreements on the Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities, energy, the Mitrovica Bridge, IBM and freedom of movement," the statement said, and concluded:

"While the discussions were thorough, no further progress was achieved. The EU calls on both sides to intensify their efforts on the implementation work, recalling that progress in the normalization of relations is a key element on their respective European paths."

However, Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti is reporting on its website that it learned the meeting scheduled for Wednesday was not held at all.

One of the reasons, the report said, is "the approach taken by the Pristina delegation toward the dialogue during the previous two days of negotiations, as well as a lack of readiness to talk."

The previous round of the Belgrade-Pristina technical level dialogue, mediated by the EU, was held in late February after a pause that lasted over a year.