Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service Podcasts.

Today we'll focus on the Belgrade-Bristina dialogue and the rocky road towards a normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.

We'll look at unresolved disputes, renewed efforts to resolve sticking points and the EU's role as facilitator. Stay with us.

13 years after Kosovo broke away from Serbia following a deadly war in the Balkans,

the two countries remain mired in mutual non-recognition, with disastrous effects for both.

Both countries aspire to EU membership, but until the dispute is resolved, both will

be barred from the EU, as regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations are essential

preconditions for all Western Balkans countries to join the bloc.

Furthermore, for Kosovo, which Serbia and many other countries,

including five EU member states still do not officially recognise as an independent and sovereign

state, the dream of joining the United Nations and NATO will also need to wait.

Pristina and Belgrade have been engaged in an EU-mediated dialogue since 2011. However, after a few

initial successes, such as the Brussels Agreement of 2013, progress has stalled. So what are the main

stumbling blocks? Well, among the main obstacles are the very different expectations and understanding

of what normalization means

for the two sides. So while for Kosovo the end of the dialogue equals mutual recognition,

for Serbia this is clearly a red line, as its constitution still defines Kosovo as an integral

part of the Serbian territory. So for Belgrade, normalization doesn't equal recognition of

independence, but more like better economic cooperation.

A second difficulty and the most sensitive currently is to agree on who will govern the

Serb majority communities in Kosovo.

To overcome all these difficulties, the Belgrade-istina Dialogue was relaunched in 2020

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