Kosovo leader Thaci rejects EU mediator for Serbia talks as Pristina wants increased US role in dialogue

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said on Tuesday he would not take part in talks on normalizing ties with Serbia that are led by a European Union special mediator. In March, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell appointed Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak as special mediator for the breakaway Serbian province.

Slovakia is one of five EU member countries – along with Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Spain – that decline to recognize Kosovo’s independence. “In front of us we will have two negotiators from the countries that do not recognize Kosovo’s independence,” Thaci said in Pristina, referring to Lajcak and Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister.

Thaci said he would join any meetings organized by Germany and France. He said only the US, which brokered Bosnia’s peace accord 25 years ago and led NATO’s 1999 airstrikes against Serbia, could really advance dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, according to Reuters.