Community of Serb Municipalities

BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy and security chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday's round of the Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina had produced an "important and symbolic step" towards the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Tuesday refused to accept a draft statute for the establishment of an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities to represent Serbs' interests in Kosovo, claiming it would establish an entity like Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, whose leaders have repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of their state.

BRUSSELS - A new round of the EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue began in Brussels on Tuesday evening.

The meeting began shortly after 6 pm, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Pristina's PM Albin Kurti expected to discuss a statute of a Community of Serb Municipalities and a declaration on missing persons.

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said on Monday Pristina had been working for a decade on avoiding the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities and would continue that policy in the next round of the Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina on Tuesday.

BELGRADE - Serbian First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic said on Friday that, on instructions from President Aleksandar Vucic, he had made it clear in the UN Security Council on behalf of Serbia that Serbia would never recognise the so-called Kosovo and would not vote for its admission to the UN.

BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy and security chief Josep Borrell has called a high-level meeting of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Brussels for Tuesday, May 2, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Pristina's PM Albin Kurti have confirmed their participation.

NEW YORK - In a statement after Thursday's UN Security Council session on the work of UNMIK in Kosovo-Metohija, Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said the fact the body's members had noted Pristina's obligation to form a Community of Serb Municipalities was the most important thing for Serbia.

BRUSSELS - The EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak has announced that the first draft statute of a Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija and the issue of missing persons would be the main topics of a Brussels meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Pristina's PM Albin Kurti slated for May 2.

PARIS - Pressure from the international community will be crucial for making the Pristina authorities meet their obligations and establish a Community of Serb Municipalities, Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said after a meeting with French FM Catherine Colonna in Paris on Thursday.

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic said on Wednesday Belgrade wanted the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija to be the first, the decisive and the defining step for implementation of an EU proposal on normalisation of Belgrade-Pristina relations.