EU leaders fail to mediate between Kosovo and Serbia

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The leaders of the EU’s largest countries have failed in their attempt to mediate between Serbia and Kosovo, amid rising concerns about another violent conflict erupting on the bloc’s doorstep.

Hours before taking part in a summit in Brussels on Thursday focused on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, the leaders of Germany, France and Italy sat down with the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and, separately, with Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, in an attempt to bring them back to the negotiation table.

But no breakthrough could be achieved, as the Balkan neighbours dug their heels in over who was to blame for the last escalation in their long-running dispute and refused to give in on key demands from the other side.

“We are very much concerned by the impasse of the normalisation process between Kosovo and Serbia, and the recent terrorist attacks,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said late on Thursday after a series of meetings with Kurti and Vučić.

The attacks Borrell referenced happened in September, when ethnic Serb militants took hostages at a monastery in northern Kosovo and clashed with police, leaving four people dead.

Kosovo has accused Belgrade of orchestrating the attack, especially after Serbian troops and heavy military equipment were filmed moving towards the Kosovo border. Kurti has insisted that Serbia be sanctioned for what he says was a Belgrade-backed military operation aimed at toppling the government in Pristina.

“The agreement will not be sustainable or implementable if there are no sanctions for Serbia . . . [which] will effectively lead to Serbia repeating the terrorist attacks,” Kurti told the FT.

“There has to be a clear message that a country cannot plan to invade another country in Europe while being one of the biggest recipients of EU funds.”

Vučić has strongly denied…