Weber: Final Kosovo agreement ʹ Serbia to be detailed, not allowing room for manipulation

German analyst in the Council for Democraticisation, Bodo Weber, has said that the final eventual agreement between Kosovo and Serbia should contain a detailed plan that does not allow Kosovo and Serbia to manipulate the process and reopen closed issues.

This Weber recommendation comes because, according to him so far, the parties involved in the dialogue have been allowed to interpret the agreements themselves, causing many of them to fail to find application on the ground.

“No constructive and destructive environment should be allowed” anymore, Weber said in an interview for Time. He has added that it is necessary for Serbia to be set clear deadlines for removing Kosovo from its constitution, as well as EU integration to be conditioned with recognition of Kosovo.

As far as red lines are concerned, according to Weber, no compromise should be made for Kosovo's status.

“If Serbia wants to discuss something else, not full recognition of Kosovo, it is Belgrade that needs to explain this, to determine how it wants to produce similar results from a final agreement without full official recognition”, Weber stressed.

Meanwhile, Kosovo, according to him, should be open to substantial discussions about the Association of Serbian municipalities, but not to turn it into a third level of governance, “since this is the road leading to the ethnic-territorial divide”.

With the dialogue resumed in Brussels, Weber estimates the EU has eventually restored the dialogue to its own hands. But according to him, US support is welcome and necessary. As to the subject, Weber sees maneuvering space for negotiations around them within the long list of open bilateral issues.