Kurtz will tell Belgrade EU will be complete when WB joins

REUTERS/Francois Walschaerts

Austrian Chancellor will visit Belgrade later on Monday and Pristina on Thursday with a message that Vienna supports any agreement the two sides reach in a dialogue, the Beta news agency reported.

Reports from Austria say Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz’s visit aims at sending “a clear sign of the support to the Western Balkans states and their progress in joining the European Union.

“The EU will be complete when the Western Balkans countries join it,” Kurtz said as quoted by the APA news agency.

He has also said he comes to encourage “further progress in the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue,” as the primary condition for the EU membership.

The dialogue held in Brussels under the EU auspices has been on hold for months without any sign of when it may resume.

Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci and his Serbia’s counterpart Aleksandar Vucic last met face to face in July, while in September, during the last round of the dialogue so far, they refused to sit at the same table and had separate meetings with Federica Mogherini, the EU Foreign Policy and Security chief who mediate the talks.