EU, US display differences over Serbia-Kosovo negotiation

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s president on Tuesday hailed the United States for its leadership role in negotiations to normalize ties with its former wartime foe Serbia. But differences emerged between the Trump administration's envoy and European officials on who should lead the talks.

U.S. envoy Richard Grenell has invited officials from Kosovo and Serbia to meet at the White House on June 27 in hopes of boosting their talks after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The invitation came as the new European Union envoy for the negotiations, Miroslav Lajcak, arrived in Kosovo on Tuesday.

Grenell oversaw an agreement in February under which Kosovo and Serbia vowed to reopen road and rail links to boost economic cooperation before resolving their longtime animosity.

“If either side is unsatisfied with the June 27 discussions then they will go back to the status quo after they leave Washington,” Grenell tweeted. “We must first make progress on growing the economies.”

It wasn't immediately clear if Europe and the United States are coordinating efforts toward urging Serbia and Kosovo to reach a deal. The EU and the U.S. have formally the same goal of resolving one of the last hotspots in Europe after a bloody 1998-1999 war and a NATO intervention to stop a bloody Serb crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said the bloc has been facilitating the dialogue from the start in 2011 and would continue to keep that leading role.

“Whatever might be agreed on the sides we’ll feed into the EU-facilitated dialogue because this is the main platform for both Serbia and Kosovo to get closer to their final agreement,” he said.

Lajcak said in Pristina on Tuesday that his focus is on the EU-mediated talks to resume in...