The head of EU diplomacy arrives in Belgrade, these topics will be in focus: "We know what is most important"

"Blic" interlocutors estimate that, during the talks with Serbian officials, she will focus on two topics: the relationship with Russia and untangling the Kosovo knot.

According to the unofficial information of the mentioned portal, as things stand now, Kaja Kallas will arrive in Belgrade on the evening of May 21, and the official program of the visit will begin on May 22.

The messages that will be sent from those meetings are expected, and Igor Novaković, research director of the ISAC fund, says that they will certainly be on the same level as those sent by the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa.

He adds that we should also keep in mind that two topics are very important for Ms. Kallas:

1. The first topic is the relationship of the European Union towards Russia and therefore the positioning of Serbia in the context of the sanctions that the EU has imposed on the Russian Federation and certainly in relation to the position of Serbia towards Ukraine.

2. Another topic is the issue of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina

"There are rumours that Kallas is much more interested than the previous high representative in the topic of dialogue. And there is the question of her relationship and how it will all work together with the special representative for dialogue Mr. Peter Sørensen," says Novakovic.

Kallas: I expect normalization

Three days ago in Tirana, on the eve of the start of the Summit on the European Political Community, Kaja Kallas made a statement about this very topic. When asked by journalists what she expects from the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, she reminded that a few months ago the EU appointed a new special representative for dialogue, Peter Sørensen.

"Of course, I expect the normalization of relations," she said on the eve of the summit of the European Political Community in Tirana.

Speaking about this visit, Strahinja Subotic from the Center for European Policies said earlier that we should not forget that the new head of EU diplomacy comes from Estonia.

"She will certainly raise the Russian issue because she has already warned that the EU does not approve of going to the parade in Moscow on May 9. In addition, she will also talk about obligations towards Pristina because the political situation in Kosovo and Metohija is expected to stabilize by then," Subotić believes.

Where are the red lines?

As he says, for Kalas any cooperation with Russia is a "red line".

"Because of that, she has already received strong reactions from both Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, who said that Kallas does not have the mandate to tie the hands of EU members like that in conducting foreign policy," concludes Subotić.

Branka Latinović, former ambassador to the OSCE, Latinović expects that the visit of Kaja Kallas to Belgrade will bring three main topics:

Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina

The European road of Serbia

Reforms on the European path

Recently, Kallas already visited the Western Balkans, but she skipped Belgrade, and Latinović says that this was not usual for her predecessors.

"I am surprised that she is coming only in the second half of May, which means that a month and a half will pass since the last visit to the region when Kallas was in Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, the novelty is that this visit to the region is not in one breath as it was during the time of Borrell", Latinović assesses for "Blic".