Toespraak Hoge Vertegenwoordiger Ashton na overleg met Servische en Kosovaarse politiechef (en)

On December 4, Catherine Ashton i, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission held the third meeting in the framework of the EU-facilitated dialogue with Prime Minister Thaçi and Prime Minister Dačić.

After the meeting Catherine Ashton issued the following statement:

"Today I hosted the third meeting with Prime Minister Thaçi and Prime Minister Dačić in the framework of the EU-facilitated dialogue for the normalisation of relations.

In the meeting we built on previous discussions, held on 19 October and 7 November.

We reviewed progress made on the implementation of the agreement on IBM. The two Prime Ministers confirmed the conclusions of the IBM working group, according to which two gates (1 and 3) are now ready and will be operational on 10 December. Two more gates (5 and 31) will be ready on the 31 December.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to each appoint a liaison officer. To begin with, as part of the EU's facilitating role, the EU Delegation in Belgrade and the EU Office in Pristina will provide the liaison office for the liaison officers.

Prime Minister Thaçi confirmed that he has already established a multiethnic special police unit within the Kosovo Police that will be tasked with the protection of Religious and Cultural Heritage.

Both sides also agreed to look into ways to ensure a transparent flow of money in support of the Serb community in Kosovo.

Following an initial exchange at the technical level today, the Prime Ministers agreed to the continuation of work on energy and telecoms at the level of experts.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to intensify cooperation between the respective commissions for missing persons.

We agreed to meet again on 17 January."