Kosovo conditions Serbia for association: This is the only condition

Xhavit Beqiri, adviser to Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, says Kosovo will condition the implementation of the Agreement for Association of Serb majority municipalities with mutual recognition.

He confirmed that position for Radio Free Europe, before teams of experts from both countries meet Thursday in Brussels, where they will discuss “arrangements about non-US communities and resolving bilateral financial and property requirements”.

Beqiri insists that Kosovo will not sign separate agreements on specific issues.

The official position of the Kosovo delegation and the prime minister as well is that no agreement, however small, on seemingly insignificant issues cannot be reached unless the final, legally binding, inclusive agreement, including recognition” is reached, Beqiri told the REL.

Establishment of the Serb majority municipalities is envisioned with the first 2013 Brussels Agreement reached in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. In 2015, the two countries, under the European Union's mediation, had reached an additional agreement to establish this association, but the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has found that the principles for Association are not in line with the Constitution. However, the Constitution stipulates that principles can be harmonised with the legal act of the Government of Kosovo.

The issue has sparked fierce debates and massive protests in Kosovo.

Last week, Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, speaking at a debate at the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said Kosovo would respect the 2015 Agreement on Association of Serb-run municipalities. After returning to Pristina, he said the “implementation of the agreement would take place in line with each letter of the Constitution”.

However, it remains unclear how it will be prosecuted away, when it is considered that a management team in August 2018, composed of four Serb members -- Vinka Radosavljevic, Dejan Radojkovic, Igor Kallamar and Svetislav Durlevic -- had handed over in Brussels a draft post for the functionality of association, which was never discussed and remained in the EU's drawers. This management team, officially appointed by the Kosovo government, had full autonomy in its work.

Thaci: Reopening the topic of association, turning back for Kosovo

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, during a statement to the media in Pristina on 15 September, spoke critical of reopening the topic of association in dialogue with Serbia, naming this as “turning back for Kosovo”.

President Thaci said Thursday's meeting, among expert teams, is dangerous, adding that no one has the right to reach a new agreement for the Association of Serb-run municipalities.

The re-opening of the association issue again in Brussels, after a decade, is a setback for Kosovo. It is a blow to Kosovo's citizenship and a violation of sovereignty and at risk for the establishment of the Serbian Republic in Kosovo. For something like this, I think the Kosovo Parliament should be very attentive. There is no one who sits down to negotiate or negotiate, and let him claim to reach any new agreement on association”, Thaci said.

EU confirms discussions on association

The EU has not answered Radio Free Europe's question whether the draft management team is still valid or whether it will be a topic of discussion.

European Commission for Foreign Policy and Security spokesman Peter Stano told Radio Free Europe that there will be discussions on general arrangements at Thursday's meeting, under the comprehensive agreement on normalising reports between Kosovo and Serbia.

The “Association/Bascia was the mechanism that was found in 2013 to address the needs of the non-Serb community. It is essential that as part of negotiations on comprehensive agreements, general arrangements for the non-most community” be addressed, Stano said, without specifying the content of the “total arrangements”.

The partner in the government coalition, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), has been taken to ébefasi) by the reopening of the Association theme and the commitment of Prime Minister Hoti to the European Parliament to implement the 2015 agreement.

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister, who comes from AAK ranks Besnik Tahiri, said in a statement to Radio Free Europe that this issue was not a topic for discussion at last week's meetings in Brussels during an official visit to the Kosovo government delegation.

I can confirm that at any meeting I've been to, the association didn't open up as a topic. During my last visit to Brussels, I have had three meetings with the prime minister and never opened up as the topic. The topics have been (reports with) Brussels, updates for dialogue, and there have been questions that have been public by MPs. And as far as I know, as I recall, no one has asked about this” theme, Tahiri said, adding that there is no knowledge of what will happen in the next Brussels dialogue process.

The government led by Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti, who comes from the ranks of the Democratic League of Kosovo, has appointed Skender Hysen as the co-ordinator for dialogue with Serbia, which had irritated the LDK- The AAK, where the latter had publicly demanded the involvement of its officials in the process. Hyseni has not provided details on topics to be discussed.

After the expert meeting this Thursday, EU Special Representative for Kosovo-Serbia Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak has warned a leadership-level meeting within September.

After appointment to this post in April this year, Lajcak had said the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue would not be an endless process, warning eventual agreements within a year. Even his initial mandate is limited to 12 months.