Peter Sorensen - Wikipedia
Danish diplomat Peter Sorensen is the new EU Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. The appointment was welcomed in Pristina, but the outlook for the future of the negotiations remains murky
Danish diplomat Peter Sorensen is the new EU Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. The appointment was welcomed in Pristina, but the outlook for the future of the negotiations remains murky
February has started with a different, more positive perception in Kosovo regarding the dialogue with Serbia, a process that has been ongoing for nearly 15 years with no clear end in sight.
On February 1st, Peter Sorensen began his mandate as the EU's Special Representative for this process, which had been mediated for the past five years by Miroslav Lajčák.
Prishtina has welcomed this decision by the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. One of the most frequently cited arguments is that the 57-year-old diplomat is well acquainted with the region.
This impression is also shared by Andi Hoxhaj, professor and researcher in EU Politics and Law at King’s College London, who expects the Danish diplomat to restore trust in the dialogue, as people in Kosovo and beyond have lost hope in this process and its legitimacy.
However, Professor Hoxhaj warns that Sorensen may also fail if he continues with the approach of his predecessors.
"Sorensen will also fail if he is not approachable and does not offer something concrete to the parties. As long as there is nothing concrete on the table, it will be very difficult because we have seen that for Serbia, they have often only provided financial incentives to push the process forward. But we have also seen that Serbia has established ties with other third-party countries like Russia, China, and Middle Eastern nations", Hoxhaj assesses.
According to the reseaarcher, Kosovo should receive an indication that the four NATO member states and five EU countries that have not yet recognised its independence will do so.
"This is something that has not been discussed, and it should be an important issue that the EU itself addresses — how these countries might recognise Kosovo and what the strategy will be. This is something the EU can do even without Serbia. It could be an internal dialogue that, for geopolitical reasons, needs to be discussed— whether recognition will happen in the next five years or not, or at least making their position clear", Hoxhaj explains, adding that Serbia should be given an accession timeline, provided it demonstrates constructive behaviour.
Political analyst Agon Maliqi in Prishtina also considers Sorensen's appointment a positive momentum. According to Maliqi, this move by the EU helps build trust in the mediator, but he argues that the main problem remains the unchanged content of the dialogue and the political dynamics in Kosovo, Serbia, and the broader international community.
"Currently, Sorensen is like a gun without bullets, i.e. until the situation with the new government in Kosovo is fully clarified, until we see whether Serbia will enter elections again, what will happen with the elections in Germany, and how the U.S. specifically views the region, I don’t believe there is any significant momentum that could come from the mediator — except for some occasional meetings just to show that the process is still ongoing or some discussions on technical matters", Maliqi states.
Like Hoxhaj, Maliqi also positively assesses the fact that Sorensen and Kallas come from countries that recognise Kosovo’s independence, unlike Lajčák and his former superior, Josep Borrell.
Who is Sorensen?
Sorensen is a diplomat with extensive experience in EU structures. Before being entrusted with the role of envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, his most recent position was Senior Advisor on Digital Diplomacy at the EU’s External Action Service.
Throughout his career, Sorensen has held various roles in the Western Balkans. He served as the EU Special Representative and Head of Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has also been the EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation in Skopje and Head of the EU Delegation in Geneva.
Previously, Sorensen worked as an advisor in Kosovo within the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and was also the Special Representative of the EU’s High Representative in Serbia.
In the Balkan region, he has also worked within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Croatia.
A contender for the position was former Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, while last year the name of former Slovenian President and Prime Minister Borut Pahor was mentioned. However, Pahor stated this year that he would not run, as he understood that the role required more of a diplomatic rather than a political profile.
Lajčák’s achievements and failures
During Lajčák’s mediation, Kosovo and Serbia reached the Basic Agreement on the Path to Normalisation in February 2023 in Brussels, followed by an Implementation Annex agreement in March in Ohrid.
However, in the following two years, the Slovak diplomat failed to push the parties to fulfill their commitments.
The government of Kosovo, led by Albin Kurti, has repeatedly criticised Lajčák.
According to analyst Agon Maliqi, Lajčák’s approach was a major factor in the stagnation of the process, as he argues that it was imbalanced.
"From the beginning, even when we in civil society raised concerns that he was not the most suitable person for this position, Lajčák demonstrated the EU’s asymmetry in its approach to both parties. It was an asymmetric relationship. However, I don’t think the problem was only with Lajčák because he was simply the face of the process. Let’s not forget that Lajčák had the full support of Germany and France, and it’s easy to say that he alone is to blame for this. The fact is that he had the backing of key countries", Maliqi emphasises.
Professor Hoxhaj, while discussing the reasons for the stagnation of the dialogue, argues that many of Lajčák’s positions were perceived as favouring Serbia.
"Since he was not transparent, he also reduced trust in the entire process. This made it very difficult for Kosovo, in particular, to have faith in him and the process overall, despite the fact that European policymakers continued to support him", Hoxhaj concludes.
The current state of the dialogue
The main deadlock in the dialogue stems from disagreements between the parties over how to implement the Basic Agreement.
Serbia insists that implementation should start with Article 7, which provides for an appropriate level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo, in line with previous agreements reached within the dialogue. One of these prior agreements is the establishment of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities.
However, the Kosovo government firmly opposes this approach, arguing that all previous agreements must be implemented simultaneously, rather than prioritising one over the others.
The Basic Agreement, agreed upon in 2023, does not contain the signatures of the two leaders, Albin Kurti and Aleksandar Vučić.
Since its negotiation, Kosovar Prime Minister Kurti has insisted on the signing of the agreement, arguing that this would provide the necessary guarantee for its implementation by Serbia.
However, Serbian President Vučić refuses to do so.
In December 2023, former Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić submitted a letter to Brussels, publicly confirming that Serbia will not implement certain provisions of the agreement, specifically those implying de facto recognition of Kosovo’s independence.
Nevertheless, the EU considers the agreement legally binding in its current form. Its implementation has been clearly identified by top EU officials as a prerequisite for the advancement of both Kosovo and Serbia’s EU integration process.
For a year and a half now, Kosovo has been under sanctions from Brussels due to the Kurti government’s actions in asserting sovereignty and enforcing the rule of law in four Serb-majority northern municipalities, remained effectively outside of Pristina's control after the end of the 1999 war and marked by the presence of organised crime.