Leaders of Serbia and Kosovo on Thursday in Brussels agreed that a Serb will command the regional police in mainly Serbian northern Kosovo.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said the next step towards implementation of the April deal between Kosovo and Serbia, on normalising their relations, will be to include Serbs into the Kosovo police on a proportional basis.

Kosovo Prime Minister Thaci said the deal had resolved all substantive issues regarding the Kosovo police.

“We did everything necessary to form an integrated police force, and candidates for police officers will be able to apply for jobs as of tomorrow,” Thaci said on Thursday.

Dacic, Thaci and Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative, met in Brussels for the 19th round of EU-mediated talks.

Ashton is due to present her report on Serbia to EU ministers on December 17. On the basis of the report, ministers will decide on a date to open accession talks with Serbia.

The EU granted Serbia candidate status in March 2012. In April 2013, the Commission recommended opening negotiations once the country “has met the key priority of taking steps towards a visible and sustainable improvement of relations with Kosovo.

“On the basis of the progress achieved I will be presenting my next report on the [Kosovo-Serbia] dialogue at the Council on December 17, ” Ashton said after Thursday’s meeting.

The next round of talks is scheduled for December 13, when the two sides are expected to reach a deal on the judiciary.

According to Dacic, the two sides must agree on a municipal court in the northern Serb half of the divided town of Mitrovica.

“We have yet to see if there will be one or two courts [in Mitrovica], who will be the president and what the ethnic structure will look like,” he explained.