Kosovo and Serbia need a better process

Drilon Gashi writes:

Kosovo should set up a technocratic government to counter the dual health and economic crises created by the Coronavirus. Serbia should reevaluate its aims for the “normalization” talks. US and EU facilitators should outline a Kosovo-Serbia deal framework, before serious negotiations begin.

Peace talks between Kosovo and Serbia have rarely had more attention. Kosovo Prime Minister Hoti met with French President Macron today, and the two of them will meet with German Chancellor Merkel and Serbian President Vucic on Friday via videoconference. A planned Washington summit was cancelled last month due to the announcement of a proposed indictment of Kosovo President Thaci on war crimes charges. In Washington the parties were allegedly to discuss a US-led economic agreement, to be followed by a EU-led political agreement in Paris.

There are important economic issues to be resolved. Reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers between the two countries, supporting bilateral industry linkages, and discussing business, trade, and academic coordination would be mutually beneficial. But issues of sovereignty abound in both economic and political talks, and politically contentious topics have often dominated the discussion and eliminated hopes for a Kosovo-Serbia deal. The economic talks are allegedly to discuss co-ownership of Kosovo’s mining assets in Trepca, in its north, and a unique arrangement between Kosovo and Serbia customs.

This would not be bilateral economic cooperation; it would be Serbian incursion into Kosovo’s economic sovereignty. Swapping or partitioning economic assets is no better—perhaps, even worse—than swapping or partitioning land. It would, in the worst case scenario, make independent Kosovo economically defunct—precisely what an ethno-nationalist Serbia government may desire.

Technocrats for Kosovo

The announcement on war crimes charges has embroiled Kosovo politics at a challenging moment. If the charges are confirmed, Thaci has vowed to step down. The current government will find it difficult to elect a new President, as it has a thin majority and lacks public support. Kosovo, Serbia, and several other Balkan countries are witnessing alarming increases of COVID cases and deaths. Not only will their vulnerable health systems come under immense pressure, but the economies of the region will face deepening recession.

Kosovo needs a new, technocratic government, empowered to elect (in parliament) a new President as well as deal with the health and economic impacts of Covid-19 for 6-9 months. This will require political compromise between Hoti’s political party (LDK) and the one that led the previous government (Vetevendosje), which is soaring in the polls and wants elections sooner rather than later. A technocratic government would require support by a grand coalition of parties ministers with public health and economic recovery experience. It should continue anti-corruption efforts, while leaving the more contentious Kosovo-Serbia talks to a newly elected, politically legitimate government.

Serbia needs a rethink

President Vucic is in a much more comfortable position than Prime Minister Hoti. He recently won 75% of the seats in parliament due to an opposition boycott. Serbia’s government has been pushing to keep the talks going as it attempts to leverage its current diplomatic advantage over Kosovo.

Serbia above all is seeking concessions on territory and economic assets, especially the Trepca mine in northern Kosovo. Those ambitions lie far from its citizens primary concerns about democratic rights, economic progress, and faster European Union accession. Protests in Belgrade yesterday show that the Serbian public is concerned with its government’s COVID response and backsliding in the country’s democracy. Rather than pressing his diplomatic advantage, President Vucic should be using his strong position to ensure a fair compromise with Prime Minister Hoti.

The process needs improvement

The only way to strike such a deal is for Kosovo and Serbia to be treated as equal negotiating parties coming together to improve their bilateral relations. For years the EU has affixed all kinds of asterisks and footnotes on Kosovo’s status to appease Serbia and its own non-recognizers. That won’t work if Kosovo and Serbia are to enter a process intended to achieve a sustainable, mutually beneficial deal.

An equal process needs high-level support, but more importantly requires that US and EU facilitators spell out the main framework of a deal before it is negotiated. There has been little transparency about what Brussels and Washington are seeking, and even less about what Pristina and Belgrade want. It is time for the negotiating process to open up to public scrutiny.

*Drilon S. Gashi is an international development specialist based in Washington, D.C. He has spent three years working in Kosovo’s public and non-for-profit sectors and holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University.