Dialogue in blindness, pessimism that pressure on Serbia will have effect

Pessimist for advancement in the dialogue process is also from the opposition, but in the ruling party, they say they are exploiting the current geopolitical situation to push Kosovo's agenda forward in the dialogue process, but stress that Serbia is a deconstructive party.

The dialogue process began on March 8th 2011, after the UN General Assembly Resolution, which welcomed the JND's advisory opinion of Kosovo's declaration of independence and welcomed the EU's readiness to facilitate Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

International Relations Professor Dritero Arifi told Kosovo that the United States of America is certain to be involved in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

According to him, while there are no concrete deadlines and topics on the table, pressure on the Serb side from the international community will have no effect.

“Understanding that we still don't have a time and theme frame on the table, I doubt even pressure on Serbia can have effect. I am very skeptical of the European Union, as we also had the re-keyship of France and Germany, but they did not give any powerful political impact on what should be done next. We wait until we see the time and thematic framework, because if they're not the same, this could take 20 years like this. I don't believe in these ways or the method the EU has chosen for dialogue. This means that without the United States, nothing ends, and unfortunately Kosovo has not realised that dialogue is not slipping into technical dialogue, but in meaningless dialogue”, he says.

Critical of the Kosovo government's approach to dialogue is AAK deputy Paul Lekaj. He tells Kosovo Press that the executive in dialogue with Serbia is rigid, as there is no correct position and no framework for the final deal.

“As far as dialogue with Serbia is concerned, there is no transparency of the development of talks being made in Brussels. Dialogue has become technical issues. Although there are voices that we are in the final phase of dialogue, but I am skeptical that we will have an agreement this year. The government in this direction is inert, sʹka is correct, there is a framework of dialogue and transparency on how to approach final dialogue”, Lekaj notes.

On the other hand, ruling party MP Vetevendosje Movement Arberesh Kryziu-Hyseni addresses Serbia as a deconstructive party.

We've always been constructive in dialogue, we've tried to be cooperative. Then we had our requests clear, we didn't issue meetings as it did with the Serb side. Actually, dating hasn't been possible because they've always left the room when the meeting started. We have shown that we are not willing to disrupt the process, but we are willing to move forward. But we are dialogueing with a party that is decostructive and that has no interest to push the issues forward, precisely because of the position they have in Russia's side of”, she says of Kosovo Press.

Following Serbia's agreement with Russia on foreign policy co-ordination, speculation in the European Union for conditioning Serbia's membership talks with the deployment of sanctions on Russia has been added.

In a draft report within the European Parliament, concrete advancements are also required in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process.

Adding international pressure has often complained in recent days even Serbian President Vuciq. During a media conference, he also unveiled the Franco-German proposal urging Serbia not to prevent Kosovo's membership in international organisations and without the obligation to recognise independence.

Since the start of the dialogue process, its approach has changed from what was originally called technical dialogue, to the so-called political dialogue or dialogue for normalising relations, which officially began on October 19, 2012. Within the dialogue so far about 35 agreements have been reached, including new negotiated agreements and implementation plans. / KP