EU: We mediate in dialogue, help from any partner who shares same goal is welcome

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The strategic goals of Belgrade and Pristina are the European future and membership in the EU, and the path to achieving that future leads through the dialogue mediated by the EU and that cannot be bypassed, says EU spokesman Peter Stano.

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Asked by European media about "US interference" in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina - after a meeting of the two sides organized by Washington was announced for June 27 - Peter Stano said that "the EU is positive" whenever it comes to initiatives that support the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue process mediated by the EU.

"We mediate in the dialogue, but the help of any partner who shares the same goal is welcome. The EU and the US have the same goals in the Western Balkans, such as stabilization and reforms," says Stano.

Speaking about "a possible agreement between the two sides, which would be reached in Washington, and which would be destabilizing for the region and disrupt the process led by the EU," Stano stressed that these were speculations and that the two sides "know well" what the possibilities are.

"Both sides are very aware that their future is the European future and that they want to join the EU. I do not believe that they will agree on anything that will prevent them from achieving this strategic goal, which is also the wish of their citizens," says Stano.

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He added that the EU does not focus on announcements, but on concrete results that the EU has already shown in the region, including the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

"Whatever is agreed in other formats will be included in the dialogue mediated by the EU, because this is the main platform for Serbia and Kosovo to get closer to a final agreement on normalization of relations and to progress towards EU membership," Stano said.

He stressed that EU special representative Miroslav Lajcak has the full support of all EU member states to continue and finalize the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed support for Lajcak's work yesterday in a conversation with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)