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European Union leaders will gather Wednesday for a summit on how to keep engaging with their Western Balkans neighbors, but the bloc’s once-successful enlargement policy faces an impasse

European Union leaders will gather Wednesday for a summit on how to keep engaging with their Western Balkans neighbors, but the bloc’s once-successful enlargement policy faces an impasse.

WASHINGTON The U.S. mediated talks Thursday between Serbia and Kosovo in hopes of normalizing economic relations and possibly paving the way toward resolving thorny political disputes. Trumps envoy Richard Grenell denied that the U.S. confronted the Serbian president with a demand to recognize Kosovo. The people of Kosovo and Serbia deserve economic normalization and the chance to create a vibrant economy, Grenell tweeted before the talks got underway. According to the administration officials, business leaders in both nations are frustrated and have been talking among themselves outside of political talks brokered by the European Union. The White House summit was originally scheduled for June, but it was cancelled after Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who was to lead the Kosovo delegation, was indicted for war crimes by an international court.