French historian: Kosovo-Serbia Agreement Reached in November

French historian and geopoliticalist Alexis Troude thinks the next round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina will be crucial, while the final agreement, according to his information, would have to be reached in Paris on November 11th and 12th, in the margins of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Allied Forces' victory against Germany in World War I.

It is not ruled out that symbolic moment to bring Belgrade a convenient climate for agreement, at least for some details. It would be nothing initial if Serbia at the last moment, as it has happened throughout history, managed to achieve convenient solutions”, Troude told Belgrade's “Novost.

This supposed agreement could be lived, in his opinion, next spring, ahead of elections for the new composition of the European Parliament.

Troude, who is director of the Balkan Studies Department near the International Geopolitical Academy in Paris, thinks Serbia's maneuvering space for resolving the Kosovo issue is too small, while the pressure of the European Union and the United States in the past six months has been too great.

He is pessimistic that Serbia could win the Association of Serbian municipalities as the minimum set out with the Brussels Agreement.

“NATO on the ground is de facto supporting Kosovo authorities, while strong support exists in the international plan also from the EU and NATO. The Albanians won it all and have no interest in giving anything. They are determined to go all the way, Troude says.

Asked what Serbia could, under such difficult circumstances, win during the negotiations, he says it would be successful if it won Kosovo's north.

But on the other hand, I'm much more optimistic when it comes to Republika Srpska. Just because of developing the Kosovo-related situation, I see space for RS to get even closer to Serbia. If Serbs earn little or nothing in its historic region, then the door directly, as a result, remains open to accelerating BiH's division. If Albanians do what they think they can do in Kosovo, there is no reason for Serbs in BiH” to do so, Troudee says.