De-escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo is a message that continues to be repeated from the European Union. The special envoy for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajčak, visited Pristina and Belgrade, with the aim of trying to calm tensions and continue the dialogue. After talks with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Aljbin Kurti, he also met with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
"Once again, I warned that the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija are exposed to the worst torture and persecution in the last 15 years and reiterated the demands for respect for their rights and security." I called on the international community to get more concretely involved in all these issues," Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Instagram after today's conversation with Lajcak.
Sanctions are a clear message
Due to the behavior of the Pristina authorities because they ignore the demands of the Union, the Brussels administration introduced certain sanctions on Kosovo, and as Lajčak stated, they expect Serbia to do the same.
"The EU made it clear that there are sanctions ready for Serbia as well, which will be applied if it is understood that Belgrade is not acting according to the demands of the Union," said Lajcak.
This very message, for the coordinator of the Working Group of the National Convention on the EU for Chapter 35 Dragiša Mijačić, is a clear sign.
"How serious the European Union and the international community are about calming the situation in the north of Kosovo and implementing the Agreement on the Road to Normalization is also shown by the fact that sanctions packages have been prepared for both sides, which will be activated the moment one of them does not want to implement the agreed . Aljbin Kurti does not want to implement a three-point plan to de-escalate the situation in the north, hence the package of sanctions was applied to Kosovo. If Serbia encourages the Serbs from the north not to participate in the repeated elections in the north of Kosovo, it too will face a package of sanctions. That package will include similar measures as those introduced in Kosovo, from the cancellation of financial resources coming from EU funds, through not being invited to international events and the reduction of bilateral visits," says Mijačić for the "Vremena" portal.
Dayton for Kosovo
Various proposals are coming from various sides on what to do next and how the Kosovo issue should be resolved. One of the proposals was launched by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. After meeting with the EU's high representative for common foreign policy and security, Giuseppe Borella, he put on the table a proposal for a conference with the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo, and EU and US officials, and suggested that "they should not be allowed to leave without an agreement".
Dragiša Mijačić believes that there is little chance of organizing such an international conference, without the idea itself receiving the support of major powers.
"All international partners have declared that they support Miroslav Lajčak's work and demand the implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalization, so I do not believe that new adventurism related to the organization of a conference with an uncertain outcome will be undertaken." "Such a large conference will certainly not be organized to deal with the implementation of the last Agreement, different formats have already been established for that and have been accepted by all actors in the dialogue," says Mijačić.
As he adds, he is of the opinion that the idea of organizing a peace conference between Kosovo and Serbia, with the presence of major powers and interested countries, is part of an initiative by certain circles that aim to deal the last blow to the efforts of Miroslav Lajčak and Josep Borelj to normalize relations between Belgrade and Pristina without a formal recognition of Kosovo by Serbia.
Namely, at the beginning of the year, Vućić and Kurti agreed on the Agreement on the path to normalization of relations and its annex, where it was defined that Serbia will not prevent Kosovo's membership in international organizations. Ten years ago, Dacic and Thaci reached the Brussels Agreement by which Serbia agreed to integrate the Serbs from the north of Kosovo and the institutions of the Republic of Serbia into the Kosovo system. Without going into the merits of those two agreements, they gave the trajectory of relations between Serbia and Kosovo to which Serbia has committed itself, and on the implementation of which Serbia's further progress towards the European Union will depend," explains Mijačić.
He emphasizes that none of these agreements have been communicated to the public in Serbia, especially not to the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, who are most concerned with the provisions of the accepted agreements.
"For all this time, and we are talking since 1999, Serbia has not had a strategy to solve the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, which includes numerous problems, from relations with the Government of Kosovo, through relations with the Albanians, to the creation of conditions for a quality life for the citizens of Serbia who live there - before of all Serbs, but also others, issues of the Serbian Orthodox Church and cultural and historical heritage to issues of property (private and social), return and war crimes. Instead of a clear plan, we got agreements imposed by the international community in accordance with the frameworks that affirm the independence of Kosovo, and in which the Serbian public is so anesthetized that the acceptance of those documents does not cause any political problems in Serbia", says the interlocutor of "Vremena".
According to him, with the idea of organizing an international conference, they want to reopen the issue of Kosovo's recognition by Serbia, which brings the issue of division back to the table because that is the only condition for Serbia to recognize Kosovo.
"Therefore, it is not surprising that the initiative comes from Edi Rama, who is one of the supporters of the idea of dividing Kosovo," concludes Mijačić.
Is appeasement possible?
Dragiša Mijačić describes the situation in the north of Kosovo as very complex and that everything indicates that there will be no de-escalation of the situation soon.
"First of all, it is necessary for mayors to withdraw to alternative locations and for special police forces to withdraw from municipal facilities, and then to create conditions for organizing elections in the north of Kosovo." I think that the solution will be sought in a partial approach, specific to each of the municipalities in the north of Kosovo."
Much depends on the way new elections will be held.
"One of the key problems surrounding the organization of new elections lies in whether the existing mayors will resign themselves, or will be replaced by citizens' signatures, where it is necessary to collect 20 percent of signatures from the total number of voters." Local Serbs demand that the mayors themselves resign, while Aljbin Kurti demands that they be replaced by collecting signatures, which would show the local population that they have admitted their mistake because they boycotted the elections," says Mijačić.
Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com
