EU Mediator To Press Serbia To Restart Kosovo Talks

EU mediator Robert Cooper (second left) attends a meeting between Kosovo's Edita Tahiri (left) and Serbia's Borko Stefanovic in Brussels last month.

The European Union's mediator for Kosovo and Serbia, Robert Cooper, is due to arrive in Belgrade to press for the revival of stalled talks about tensions in Kosovo's Serb-dominated north.

EU foreign-policy spokeswoman Maja Kosijancic said Cooper also planned to visit Pristina at the start of next week.

Serbia broke the talks off on September 28 amid the wake of clashes between NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo (KFOR) and local Serbs that erupted from a dispute over who should control two border crossings into Serbia from northern Kosovo.

Topics on the agenda for the scrapped talks were energy, telecommunications and Kosovo's participation in regional initiatives that have been routinely vetoed by Serbia.

Serbia's negotiator, Borislav Stefanovic, said that he wanted to discuss the situation around the border crossings with the EU envoy.

compiled from agency reports