Analyst: Crossing demarcation paves the way for other important processes

Political parties represented in the Kosovo Assembly should understand the importance of ratification of the Agreement for Demarketation, not only because it is a condition for visa liberalisation, but also as an agreement that defines the border between the two states, Kosovo and Montenegro, assess political analysts in Kosovo. According to them, now is the time when the Parliament must end demarcation with Montenegro.

Analyst Albert Krasniqi from the Kosovo Democratic Institute tells Radio Free Europe that the sooner the Demarket Agreement is passed, the better it will be for Kosovo and citizens.

“If the benefits are immediate on visa liberalisation, they will thus be in the report of consolidating Kosovo's citizenship and, above all, that public opinion and the entire political scene will be relieved of this topic and start addressing the many problems we are facing as society”, Krasniqi considers.

Analyst Krasniqi says politicians should compromise and find solutions to important issues for the country.

According to him, when politicians make mistakes, they should release and accept compromise, on the contrary, as he says, politics should not be made just for domestic consumption.

If this ratification of this agreement fails, then a lack of seriousness of the entire political scene in Kosovo is shown, and it is hard to reach a consensus through democratic means”, Krasniqi says.

On the other hand, political analyst Ismail Hasani, speaking to Radio Free Europe, stresses that if the Kosovo Parliament ratifys the agreement, one of the obligations set by the EU is fulfilled, but according to him, the other condition remains pending for fighting organised crime and corruption.

The “even if approved in the coming week of demarcation in the Kosovo Assembly, it is a big question whether the road to Kosovo will be opened in terms of visa liberalisation, because the loss of credibility of leadership one, and the second remaining condition behind the adoption of demarcation, which is linked to fighting organised crime and corruption, are two of the conditions, which give little hope that eventually resolves the total isolation of the Kosovo population of”, Hasani estimates.

Political parties in the ruling coalition, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, the New Kosovo Alliance, as well as the opposition political party Democratic League of Kosovo, have reached a consensus on voting the Demarketation Agreement.

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has confirmed his agreement with the version proposed by the Democratic League of Kosovo for voting the draft law on ratification of the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro.

Haradinaj has agreed that the State Commission's report on the border, to be only informative and not part of the package of the demarcation bill, which is expected to be voted on Wednesday.

In a simple estimate, if the PDK, AAK, Initiative and LDK, along with non-Serb minorities in the Assembly, vote on the agreement, however, still do not ensure the 80 required votes.

All these subjects together have 78 votes. Therefore, ratification of the demarcation still remains dependent on 2 ʹ3 votes to be secured by the Vetevendosje Movement and the Serbian List.

Up to this stage, however, Haradinaj has also confirmed that there is no agreement guaranteeing votes from the Serbian List, which is part of the ruling coalition.

“And we have no consensus with the Serbian List, I don't know if it will reach”, Haradinaj said.

The European Commission has made it clear that without ratification of the demarcation, Kosovo will not be included in the free movement area within the EU without visas.

The border demarcation agreement with Montenegro was signed in August 2015 in Vienna. As such, this agreement was ratified by Montenegro's Assembly, but not by Kosovo's.

The deadline for ratification of this agreement, so that Kosovo is included in the visa liberalisation agenda, remains 28 February, when the session is scheduled to continue.