Kosovo, Serbia leaders resume talks in Brussels to normalise ties

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have returned to Brussels for talks to normalise ties and implement a European Union 11-point normalisation plan, Azernews reports via Aljazeera.

Tuesday’s meeting follows one in February when both leaders backed the EU plan after 12 years of talks. They also met in March in North Macedonia, where Belgrade and Pristina tentatively agreed on how to implement it.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will convene the meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

The leaders are expected to discuss creating an association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, which was once part of Serbia and whose overall population is more than 90 percent ethnic Albanian.

They are also expected to tackle the issue of the more than 1,600 people still officially missing since the 1998-99 Kosovo War, which erupted when ethnic Albanian separatists rebelled against Serbia’s rule and Belgrade responded with a brutal crackdown.

About 13,000 people died, mostly ethnic Albanians. In 1999, a NATO military intervention forced Serbia to pull out of the territory.

The EU proposal covers the normalisation of relations between the two countries and their future path towards peace and EU membership.