Why should Serbia accept Kosovo's independence?

Brussels insists that Serbia normalise relations with Kosovo before it can enter the EU.
So far, 114 states have recognised Kosovo's independence. However, Serbia struggles against Kosovo's efforts to gain greater global recognition.
It also supports parallel structures in northern Kosovo, which undermine Kosovo's sovereignty and provoke unrest among the Kosovo Serbs.
The Kosovo-Serbia situation can be solved with more effective international mediation. Diplomacy works best when Europe and the US work together.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's recent statements leave room for optimism.
He summoned the Serbian people to stop “by putting their heads into the sand” on the Kosovo issue and to start an internal “dialog”. He told Serbs to become realistic.

A big deal could work.
As normalisation begins by addressing many bilateral issues, everything comes down to Serbia's recognition of Kosovo Independence. The recognition would lead to Kosovo's membership in the United Nations. Kosovo and Serbia would enter talks on EU membership, entering the EU at the same time.

There already is a frame of dialogue. Kosovo-Serbia dialogue started in 2011 by the EU.
Kosovo and Serbia concluded agreements on technical issues such as freedom of movement, integrated border management and license plates.
However, implementation has been uneven.

The 2013 Brussels Agreement affirmed a European future for Kosovo and Serbia.
In the best case, there is progress to break the policy path.
The existing agreements must be implemented.
The EU should ban mediation if any of the parties complain about its commitments.
An official EU monitoring mechanism will report member states between the EU Council's Political Security Committee.

The EU should condition the funds provided for Kosovo and Serbia through its “Pre-membership Assistance programme”.
“Without progress, without chapters”, would be the guiding principle linking Kosovo's dialogue with Serbia with Serbia's aspirations for EU membership.

Mediators need a final game for their diplomacy.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Marcti Ahtisaari, who served as UN special envoy from 2005 to 2008, knew the outcome of his efforts before taking office. Modern - day mediators need strategic and moral clarity.

A new format could spur negotiations. The EU should appoint a heavy international burden as a special envoy.

Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's finance minister, has negotiating influence and experience.

He would be difficult in this role.

Given its overall experience and working in the Balkans as US Secretary of State Condeleza Rice would be ideal as US special representative.

Dialogue cannot be open. The mediators must set an 18-month deadline.

The clock will start knocking when the dialogue improves and resumes.

The people of Kosovo and Serbia must be kept informed.

The delegations of Kosovo and Serbia could include a “ekip of unity”, composed of the main political parties and civil society representatives.

The deal won't be easy. There is a large number of bilateral issues to address.

There are about 1,500 people missing from the war. A Regional Commission for Facts About War Crimes may help reduce victims' families. About $200 billion in Kosovo pension funds and a privatisation fund of $600,000 were confiscated from Serbia.

On the other hand, Serbia wants to regain its investment value in Kosovo.

A compensation plan is needed. Kosovo needs a comprehensive plan for the integration of Kosovo Serbs, providing local autonomy to boost minority rights.

The United States has interest in mediating an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. Kosovo is on the front line of Russia's new Cold War with the West. Moscow has transferred sophisticated weapons to Serbia, including MIG-29 fighter aircraft, T-72 battle tanks and BUK surface missiles. In December, a train prepared by Russia with a message “Kosovo is Serbian” was banned by Kosovo authorities at the border. The subsequent struggle of words almost turned into a violent confrontation.

Lack of progress has a negative impact on Kosovo and Serbia.

Failure to fully integrate into the international system undermines Kosovo's economy, which suffers from 30 per cent unemployment and the highest youth unemployment. The lack of economic development has fostered an underground economy.

Crime, corruption and nepotism are widespread in the region.

Denying visa liberalisation for Kosovo citizens has made them disappointed with the West.

Islam is on the rise. Kosovo Albanians joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. With financing from Turkey, the largest mosque in the Balkans is planned for Pristina, Kosovo's capital.

Serbia has been stigmatized by its genocide practices during the 1990s. It remains a failed state on the border, caught amid its dark history, European aspirations and Russia's vile influence.

Economic reform is missing, Serbia has become a centre for organised crime and all kinds of trafficking.

Kosovo's north is run by a criminal gang under Belgrade's control. A symbiotic bilateral relationship exists between gangs in northern Kosovo and their mafia counterparts in Serbia and the region.

Serbia wants to gain EU membership once it normalises relations with Kosovo.

Will Euro-Atlantic integration solve Serbia's problems with Kosovo? Can Serbia give Russia's agreement on Kosovo to join the United Nations? Will you block? Serbia's EU membership once it becomes an EU member?

Globalists in the Trump administration can achieve a success of foreign policy by engaging in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. An agreement between Kosovo and Serbia would stabilise an important strategic region in Europe, reaffirm the importance of transatlantic co-operation and underline Washington's necessary diplomatic role.

David L. Phillips is director of the Peace Construction and Rights Programme at Columbia University's Institute of Human Rights Research.

He is the author of Kosovo's <x0/margination: Forced diplomacy and US intervention” ( MIT Press, 2012).