Serbian President met in Brussels with the EU representative Federica Mogherini on Friday. Photo: Maja Kocijancic

After separate bilateral meetings between the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and the presidents of Serbia and Kosovo, Serbian President has scrapped a planned meeting with his Kosovo counterpart, Hashim Thaci, in Brussels.

Vucic’s announced visit to Kosovo this weekend is now also uncertain, Serbian media reported.

The Head of Serbia’s Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, said that “not even the slightest conditions [exist] for the dialogue in Brussels to continue”.

Djuric claimed that Vucic had informed Mogherini about “all the lies of Pristina in the past days” and added that this “is why he will not meet with the Kosovo delegation today”, N1 television reported.

“The EU’s obligation was to provide the conditions for dialogue,” Djuric added.

Before meeting Mogherini, Thaci said only that a final agreement should happen, involving mutual recognition of both countries, but not partition or movement of citizens.

“We are definitely in the last phase of the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo in order to achieve the definite final agreement for peace between the two. This peaceful process of negotiation, I believe, will bring positive progress for both countries and stability for the region,” Thaci told the media.

He said the multi-ethnic spirit of Kosovo should be preserved, saying threats of war and of refugees were unacceptable.

He also said the dialogue should not be related to other situations elsewhere in the world, as it had only to do with the interests of the peoples of Kosovo and Serbia.

“The current status quo is unsustainable and the current frozen conflict is unsustainable, so we need to move forward, so we can realise a Euro-Atlantic future for Kosovo and a European future for Serbia,” Thaci said.

A new round in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina was due to be held on Friday in Brussels, despite rising tensions between the two countries at home.

Vucic on Friday ordered Serbian institutions to stop all communications with the Kosovo Police and with international KFOR peacekeepers.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s Foreign Minister, Ivica Dacic, said that Vucic faced obstruction and threats ahead of his visit to Kosovo.

“All this shows that a peace agreement is not wanted. Some countries participating in this are very influential in the UN Security Council, and they are not the United States and Russia, nor France nor Germany,” Dacic said, Serbia’s Tanjug news agency reported on Friday.

“It’s important that people in the international community see what kind of crazy people we are dealing with,” Dacic added.

Vucic announced in August that he would visit Kosovo in early September to present “guidelines and directions of state policy towards Kosovo” to local Serbs.

On Friday, Serbia’s Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin added to the tension, with crude insults for Kosovo Albanians.

“The Shiptars [a highly pejorative terms for Albanians] are heroes when they are far away from Vucic, while in front of cameras and at the meetings they behave differently,” he said.

Serbia’s public broadcaster reported on Thursday that Vucic would cancel his visit to Kosovo if not allowed to visit the Gazivode Lake in the north of Kosovo, which both sides see as strategically important.

Kosovo Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli confirmed to BIRN that Kosovo would not allow Vucic to visit Gazivode during his stay. “Vucic does not have the permission for [visiting] Gazivode,” Pacolli told BIRN.

On the other hand, Djuric said that if Vucic went to Kosovo, “he will surely visit Lake Gazivode”.

Media reports said the Serbian President would make a final decision on his visit to Kosovo on Friday night.

The former province declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia has never recognised it.

However, international pressure is growing on both countries to solve the decade-long dispute, if they are to assure themselves a future as part of the EU.

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