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The year 2025 was a bad one in terms of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. This is the assessment of Danish diplomat Peter Sorensen, who was unsuccessful last year in his role as mediator assigned by the European Commission.
Sorensen took office in February 2025, but in the same month, regular elections were held in Kosovo that did not produce institutions, while protests erupted in Serbia. Under these conditions, the first year of Sorensen's three-year mandate as European envoy did not bring any results.
But Sorensen is optimistic about 2026. With the end-of-year holidays over, the EU Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue kicked off his agenda with a visit to Kosovo. He first met with the incumbent Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, who won the snap elections, and then with the country's President, Vjosa Osmani.
"I have great hope, of course, personally, that 2026 brings us what 2025 did not bring. And that is why I am starting the working year with a working trip here and then to Belgrade later this week," Sorensen said in a statement to journalists in Pristina.
The last high-level meeting was mediated by former chief diplomat Joseph Borrell, before the Banjska attack occurred.
Sorensen's boss, Kaja Kallas, has yet to organize one since replacing Borrell at the helm of diplomacy, due to the lack of a full-time prime minister in Kosovo and also unrest in Serbia.
But Sorensen vowed that one would be held at an appropriate time, emphasizing that when one is called, the parties will go.
“What we will do is what we have been asked by the international community to do in facilitating dialogue, to ensure that both sides sit down and talk. So we will have to find a way for that to happen. The High Representative visited Belgrade and Pristina last year. There are commitments that there will be a meeting when the time is right. She will call the meeting. People will come and we will see. But we will have to see,” he said.
Following the lifting of punitive measures against Kosovo with the smooth transfer of power that occurred in the country's four northern municipalities, as well as the European Union's pledges to return increased attention to the Western Balkans region, expectations have increased for Kosovo to take more concrete steps towards the EU integration process.
Sorensen, along with Kallas, are facing pressure to move the already much-criticized process forward to produce more tangible results.
Neither Kosovo nor Serbia have made progress in implementing this agreement since 2023.
Radio Free Europe in Prague reported a few days ago that few people in Brussels believe that Kosovo and Serbia will be ready to engage in dialogue soon to normalize relations between them, and that it is believed that Kaja Kallas will try to achieve something in the Western Balkans, after a difficult start she had as the EU's top diplomat.
"Given that Brussels has often been sidelined on issues such as peace talks for Ukraine, the war in Gaza and the situation in Iran, EU officials joke that reaching an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia could be the 'lowest fruit' the bloc can achieve at this point," REL reported.
It was also said that there is a possibility that EU member states will agree to send Kosovo's application for EU membership to the European Commission, so that the EU executive can assess whether Pristina can join the bloc in the future.
But, this will be particularly problematic for Kosovo since this first half of the year, the EU Presidency is held by Cyprus, a country that does not yet recognize Kosovo within the bloc.
However, Cyprus will be followed by Ireland, which is seen as more favorable to Kosovo, considering its commitment to the Western Balkans.
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