"Christopher Hill told me - the president called me personally"

"Christopher Hill told me - the president called me personally"

Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, the EU's Special Envoy for Kosovo (1998-1999), EU chief negotiator at the Kosovo peace talks in Rambouillet and Paris, was optimistic prior to this conflict, anticipating that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina would move forward in the second half of the year. But, as he said in an interview with Tanjug, those expectations were related to the elections being held in Serbia in April, and that after that, with the new government, it would be possible to come one step closer to a solution.

"I must openly say that I am now skeptical that this can happen," Petritsch stated.

He points out that in any case, the will of Pristina is needed for a solution, but that in Pristina and with Albin Kurti, he has only recently noticed greater flexibility.

"Whether that is really the case or not, I don't know. In any case, both sides need to reach a solution, and that is clear," Petritsch said, adding that Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar can only help, prepare a solution, give arguments, but a solution should be reached by agreement between Belgrade and Pristina.

On the conclusion that Pristina has not yet shown readiness to implement the Brussels Agreement and the UN Security Council, and when asked whether it expects the international community to be able to put pressure on Pristina, Petritsch's impression, he said, is based on talks with the American and European sides. The pressure on Pristina is already great and there is a common position that now the next step, regarding the CSMs, must come from Pristina.

"Lajcak and Escobar thought that maybe another model could be found. I would not comment on that. That is something that Belgrade and Pristina must agree on," Petritsch points out.

When it comes to holding Serbian elections in Kosovo and Metohija, Petritsch believes that it is important that if there are agreements, they must be implemented.

Asked if he thinks that the election of Christopher Hill as ambassador to Serbia is a good solution, he answered that Hill, as an expert on the Balkans, knows Serbia and the region and sees a clear signal from Washington for constructive improvement of US-Serbia relations.

"Hill told me, when we met in December, that the President of the United States called him personally and asked him if he wanted to take over this job. President Joe Biden really expressed his personal interest in sending the best ambassador to Belgrade", Petritsch reported.

On the other hand, he says, President Aleksandar Vučić sent one of his best people, Marko Djurić, to Washington, so that both sides obviously have a genuine interest in improving relations, at the center of which is the issue of Kosovo.

"This means that Hill will deal with this issue intensively. He was with me in Rambouillet and we negotiated intensively, until the last moment, with the then President Slobodan Milosevic. We know the situation well. I think Hill is highly respected in Belgrade, and I am convinced that this would be the case in Pristina as well", Petritsch concluded.