My Fantasyland

I gather the Serbian parliament will not actually approve the Fantasyland platform for Kosovo but will instead pass a resolution containing some basic principles to which its negotiators will adhere in the future political-level talks.  This inspires me to suggest a few basic points that, if adopted, would go a long way to ensuring that peace and stability are maintained in the Balkans and that Serbia gets an early date to start negotiations on EU accession.  This is my Fantasyland.  No, I don’t expect Belgrade to listen to me, but here it is anyway:

Serbia hereby acknowledges the evil that was done in its name during the Milosevic regime.  We have prosecuted criminals involved and delivered all the international indictees to the Hague Tribunal.  Our current government is a democratic one that understands sovereignty cannot be maintained over a province in which human rights were so grossly violated.  Milosevic lost sovereignty over Kosovo in 1999.  Democratic Serbia cannot regain it.

Nor would we want to:  governing a young and rapidly growing population of more than 1.6 million Albanians, many of whom no longer speak Serbian, is simply not what we want to be doing.  They can and should govern themselves.

But we expect proper treatment of Serbs and other minorities there.  This is Serbia’s primary concern:  to ensure the safety, security and prosperity of its citizens who live in Kosovo, as well as the protection of Serbian monuments, churches, monasteries and other property, both religious and secular.  For these purposes, Serbia accepts the Ahtisaari plan, whose letter and spirit were intended to provide real protection.  We cannot accept pro forma implementation but will insist on substantial guarantees of the rights and privileges provided therein, which we negotiated for in good faith.  This will be the main subject of discussion in our talks with the Pristina authorities.

The Pristina institutions are distasteful to us because they include people who have done deadly harm to Serbs in Kosovo.  But we understand that they are the product of an internationally sponsored state-building process and represent the will of the majority population of Kosovo.  We will respect and cooperate with these institutions as we do others legitimately elected and empowered, so long as they respect the human rights of the Serb population.

Despite our pleas, the International Court of Justice has advised that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not breach international law.  Once the Ahtisaari plan has been fully and faithfully implemented to our satisfaction, we will reconsider whether we can recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the Pristina government.

In the meanwhile, we will seek for Serbs in Kosovo governing arrangements comparable to what we are willing to provide Albanians and other minorities within Serbia, particularly in the south.  We understand that these contiguous populations will one day, like the Serbs in northern Kosovo, enjoy the privileges of citizens of the European Union, including the disappearance of the borders that now temporarily divide them from their co-nationals.  We look forward to, and seek to hasten, that day.

We have sought a status-neutral approach to international community relations with Pristina.  We will continue to be status-neutral ourselves, meaning that we will no longer claim Kosovo is a province of Serbia.  But we understand that about half the members of the UN have now recognized the Pristina institutions as sovereign and independent.  We will no longer oppose such recognitions and will ask that Russia allow Kosovo to enter the General Assembly.  This will help ensure that the Pristina institutions feel the full weight of responsibility for maintaining peace and stability as well as the security and welfare of all their citizens.

What a fine day that would be, eh?  This is not entirely fantasy.  I know lots of Serbs in Belgrade who would sign up to something like this.  The issue is not whether this is beyond imagination, but rather whether Serbia’s current leadership can bring itself to break with an approach that is causing both Serbia and Kosovo unnecessary pain.  Unfortunately, it cannot.