New phase of dialogue with Serbia requires clear framework, better expertise

The outcome of dialogue with Serbia depends on the preparations the parties make in this process. International negotiation and policy officials in the country say Kosovo should be very careful during the dialogue on topics and selection of teams to negotiate.

In this context, according to them, the important thing is for negotiating tables to have field experts.

Kosovo should be very cautious about the closing phase of dialogue with Serbia, which envisions normalisation of relations with this state. Valon Murtezaj, professor of international negotiation and diplomacy, speaks of Radio Kosovo on principles that should be considered leaders of the dialogue process.

“should be clear the priorities of the topics that should be advanced at the negotiating table, much more should be given importance to forming very professional teams within Kosovo, much more financial means should be anchored and we have to address the issue. It is not a dialogue of just two days of conversations in Brussels, dialogue is throughout the year, and even a few years. And we have to be clear what concession can be made, and what can't become concession”, Murtezaj said.

Professor Murtezaj, who comes from the area of international negotiation, says that the more prepared the party is the more benefited by a negotiation process. It draws attention to the care of concessions that endanger Kosovo's sovereignty, or functioning as a state.

The more prepared you are, the better you know what you want at the negotiating table, the more capable you are in generating options on the negotiating table, the more likely you are to benefit from a negotiation process. And the opposite, no less prepared, the less you know what you want, the more concessions you're going to do at the negotiation table”, he said.

Negotiation except that it is the work of politicians and government officials, primarily professional work, so it is important to create powerful teams of expertise, Murtezaj says.

Of course politicians are led to processes, but the work on the field, the work of documentation, the prepared drafts for negotiations, proposals, options and options, are part of expertise, and we have to, from each area, take or engage experts, it's the only way to generate greater benefits for any kind of negotiation process”.

Even Naim Rashit, analyst from the Balkan Policy Group, says the new phase of dialogue with Serbia should have better preparation and a clearer framework over Belgrade.

The “is very little of who will lead the dialogue process from the Kosovo side. The most important is that there is a co-ordination of attitudes, policies and principles on the part of institutions and politics, to create a new situation and a closed consensus on how we anticipate it, and what we want from this final phase of dialogue. This phase is very important, because from what Kosovo signs, it will enable Serbia to enter the EU”, he has said.

Otherwise Serbia has launched internal dialogue for Kosovo, which is involving political forces, academics, state officials, civil society activists and ordinary citizens.