Do unto others…
As soon as the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo was elevated to the prime ministerial level, the process began to proceed much more smoothly, until the current round. The slowdown is understandable given the complexity of the topic: dismantlement of illegal Serb institutions in northern Kosovo.
In an attempt to prevent full integration of the Serb-dominated municipalities into the institutional framework of Kosovo, the government in Belgrade is demanding the formation of an association of Serb municipalities in Kosovo. The problem is that Serbia insists that the association should have executive and legislative powers, including in the area of public security and rule of law. Priština has rejected the proposal as inconsistent with Kosovo’s Constitution. Washington also seems to oppose the idea, as the US Ambassador to Serbia, Michael Kirby, said that his country would not like to see another Republika Srpska in the Balkans.
The growing divergence between the two sides has prompted Brussels to intensify its diplomatic activity. For that reason, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton held a meeting with Serbia’s top figures – President Tomislav Nikolić, Prime Minister Ivica Dačić and his deputy Aleksandar Vučić.
Prior to the meeting, President Nikolić was pessimistic about the outcome, expressing concern that Serbia could be asked to concede more than it can accept. But when the meeting was over, he appeared in a quite different mood and told media that an agreement would likely be reached by the end of the month, as Priština agreed to make some concessions. Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi denied Nikolić’s words, demanding an explanation. This week Lady Ashton will visit Kosovo to try to sort things out.
Whatever Belgrade is hoping for, it is clear that no executive or legislative powers beyond the Ahtisaari agreement should be granted to the Serb municipalities. The most Serbia should get is more clarity on the implementation of Ahtissari in northern Kosovo, so that the government can save face in the eyes of more nationalist voters. The probabilty that premature elections will be held this autumn is growing with each passing day. Fortunately for the governing coalition, two thirds of people in Serbia accept that Kosovo is independent according to the latest opinion poll. For the record, the support to European integration is also on a steady decline for two years already.
Meanwhile, Albanians from the Preševo Valley in southern Serbia have requested an association of Albanian municipalities in Serbia along the lines of the one that Belgrade wants for Kosovo Serbs. Zoran Stanković, a Serbian government official, countered that the institution of such an association would violate Serbia’s Constitution. But so too would the Serb one in Kosovo, if it extends its functionality to police and courts.
Thaçi likewise faces elections, in 2014. He will need to save face as well. Even if the appeal for the Albanian association in Serbia was made only to put pressure on Belgrade to soften its own demands, the idea is worth considering. As Daniel Serwer wrote:
Whatever the Serbs of Kosovo gain in this negotiation should also be available to the Albanian-majority community of Presevo in southern Serbia.
Stability in the long-term requires reciprocity. It may be the only feasible solution.
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
10 thoughts on “Do unto others…”
Comments are closed.
RSS - Posts
Not only a feasible solution. It would be the solution that would require from Serbia and Kosovo the conduct, the philosophy and the way of thinking that are necessary for one to become equal and valuable member of EU.
Wow, the bias in this “opinion” is staggering. Just one technical issue: if you put a name like “Thaçi” in original, then please use Preševo тоо. And this coming from a Serb… Shame on you. And praising Serwer’s opinion on his own site?! That’s what I call integrity! From both of you!
Bias?? Since I’m undoubtedly more pro-Albanian than Milan is (reality seems to have a pro-Albanian bias, recently), I admit I really can’t see it – maybe you could provide evidence when you make such a charge? And anyway, you refer to it as an opinion piece – since when does expressing an opinion invalidate an opinion piece? (This is a blog, not the NYTimes, in any case.) As for missing the diacritic in “Presovo” (notice the spelling of the president’s name, though) – this is a common tactic in Kosovo, for Serbs to get all bent out of shape by the omission of the hacek in a road sign, for example, as one more sign that Serbs in the province are under constant attack. When you don’t have a stick to beat someone, using a twig only looks silly.
I am neither pro-Albanian nor pro-Serbian. But I do think that Serbia should regard Kosovo as an independent and sovereign neighbor country because, after all, it is in Serbia’s own interest. Moreover, I’ve been supporting the idea that Kosovo should be an independent state ever since the mid 1990s – hence a lot before the NATO intervention in 1999, let alone Kosovo’s formal declaration of independence in 2008.
If you neither pro-Albanian nor pro-Serbian than you must be Croat. I bet you supported bombing of Yugoslavia.
After a week or so of no Internet access I was relieved to find that I hadn’t missed anything significant about the Belgrade-Prishtina talks. Belgrade is still trying to engineer a solution that will allow it to reclaim the north, if not the entire province, at some more favorable time in the future (i.e., once the U.S. has been supplanted by China and other Serbia-friendly powers), and Prishtina is doing its best to prevent such an outcome. Serbia obviously sees autonomy as the first step toward independence, and can be expected to continue obstructing Vojvodina’s push for the return of past powers and resistance to granting Presheva Valley greater powers. (Fairness and reciprocity have nothing to do with it.) Unfortunately for implementing their plans in Kosovo, their politicians speak a little to freely to the newspapers at home in an effort to keep the nationalists happy. The time when politicians in small countries could say one thing to their domestic audience and another to the world ended with the introduction of the internet.
Mostly what the Belgrade politicians have managed to do at home seems to be to have fed the suspicion and cynicism of the people (or at least, of those people who bother to respond to online articles). With the President and the PM giving opposing interpretations of what is happening in Brussels at the meetings, it’s no wonder that Serbs – especially the Serbs in Kosovo – have the distinct impression they’re being set up. As an opposition politician remarked, the Serbs in Kosovo depend on Albanian media for their information about the talks – Thaci reports to parliament on a weekly basis on developments, and there were regular comments during the first series of talks that Madame Tahiri provided more reliable information and interpretations than the Serbian side. What they seem to be doing is arguing to the EU is all they want is a fig-leaf to cover a tacit acceptance of Kosovo’s independence in order to get the start-of-talks date while ensuring that the fig-leaf is large enough and strong enough to allow them to change the situation once the geopolitical situation becomes more favorable. Or at the very least, that the outcome can be presented in this light at home.
I’ve said this already on the blog,the best option is a formal partition and swap of territories.N.kosovo for Albanian parts of the presevo valley.The Serbs south of the ibar should if they want to live peacefully stay in kosovo.Once this happens Kosovo gets formal recognition from Serbia,Serbia gets her EU date.Thats a reciprocal solution.ANything else will lead to eventual conflict and bloodshed.
Too logical, meaning most likely – no chance. For one thing, The Internationals worry about unilateral – potentially unpeaceful – moves to alter other borders in the region. On the other hand, once Serbia has recognized Kosovo’s independence and sovereignty, there should be no outside objections to a peaceable, mutually acceptable alteration of the border between them.
it seems to me that it is only at the moment when the demands become too much for Mr Thaci’s government that Mr Serwer suggests the reciprocity for Presevo Valley. So it would appear that Mr Serwer is not really interested in the Presevo Albanians per se but rather in their use as bargaining chip in negotiations with Belgrade. Just a hunch, Milan.
We are not negotiating about Presevo (which happens to be officially recognized state of Serbia by UN). We are negotiating about Northern Kosovo which is still part of Serbia and currently located in self proclaimed territory of Kosovo. Those are big differences. Whatever my “brother in faith” (and one of the main architects of Kosovo’s UDI), Daniel Serwer writes about reciprocity is not the same, he is just giving support to self proclaimed territory of Kosovo and he does not want any deals to be made which would end up hostility in the region. However we should understand that Daniel can not go against his own policies.