<p>PRISTINA, Kosovo — The European Union’s special envoy for talks between Serbia and Kosovo started a visit to Pristina on Monday for meetings with local leaders on resuming dialogue between the two countries.</p>
<p>Miroslav Lajcak arrived in Kosovo’s capital, where he will meet top leaders during his three-day visit.</p>
<p>Lajcak was due to meet with Albin Kurti, who is expected to become Kosovo’s new prime minister after his Self-Determination Movement Party won the Feb. 14 parliamentary election.</p>
<p>After a White House summit and talks in Brussels in September, the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo has stalled.</p>
<p>Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a decade after a brutal 1998-1999 war between separatist ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb forces. Most Western nations have recognized Kosovo’s independence, but Serbia and its allies Russia and China have not.</p>
<p>The war ended after a 78-day NATO air campaign drove Serb troops out and a peacekeeping force moved in. </p>
<p>Brussels named Lajcak to the post last year to help Kosovo-Serbia relations, which remain tense despite the ongoing EU-led negotiations on normalizing their ties.</p>
<p>Lajcak will then go to Belgrade after departing from Kosovo.</p>
