The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, said on Wednesday evening that the first meeting of the presidents of Serbia and Kosovo had taken place in a constructive atmosphere.
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and his Kosovo counterpart Atifete Jahjaga met for the first time in Brussels on Wednesday through Ashton's mediation.
"I met today in Brussels President Nikolic and President Jahjaga in the context of the efforts for the normalisation of relations between the two sides. After meeting them separately, I held a joint meeting with the two Presidents that took place in an open and constructive atmosphere," Ashton said in a statement.
"We discussed the on-going dialogue that I am facilitating between Prime Minister Dacic and Prime Minister Thaci. The dialogue has already produced a number of significant achievements thanks to the constructive engagement from both sides. We are now tackling the issue of northern Kosovo and the coming weeks will be critical," Ashton said.
Nikolic told the press after the meeting that no progress had been made with regard to the status of Kosovo. "The president of the temporary institutions in Pristina, Mrs Jahjaga, is exclusive in her view that Kosovo is an independent state that wants to have good relations with Serbia as its neighbour," he said.
Nikolic said that he had talked about the Serbian parliament's resolution on Kosovo "that represents a framework beyond which Serbian negotiators will not go."
When asked about initiatives in Croatia to postpone the introduction of Cyrillic as a second official alphabet in the eastern town of Vukovar, Nikolic said: "You know what, Croatia like any other state should enact laws that it can implement."
