Cholles in Kosovo to push Brussels dialogue forward

Chollet will remain on 11 January even in Skopje, meanwhile the following day he will visit Serbia as well.

In Pristina, Chollet will first meet with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani at 13:30, meanwhile, an hour later the meeting with Prime Minister Albin Kurti was envisioned.

According to the UN report, he will talk with leaders in Kosovo and Serbia about Euro-Atlantic integration, including reaching an agreement on normalising reports between the two states, based on mutual recognition.

Political affairs director Artan Muhhaxhiri says the visit by the senior US official is important, in terms of the dynamisation of the dialogue process.

It is clear that Cholle's main requirement will be the greatest, most energetic, most literal, most qualified Kosovo Government in dialogue because even major American investments in the Balkans are directed at reaching the final agreement and finding a solution to the creation of a new historic stage”, Muhramir tells Radio Free Europe.

As far as Serbia is concerned, Muhramir says that this state has great pressures -- both from the US and the EU -- but according to him, Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq, is aiming to put the focus on <x0-recognitions and Kosovo's refusals to American”.

However, it is absolutely clear that Serbia will have to make very big compromises if it wants not to be stigmatized as blocker of the process and if it wants to have normal European future”, he says

Focus on Franco-German plan
Chollet's visit to Kosovo and Serbia comes weeks after the tension of the situation in northern Kosovo, which culminated in the deployment of barricades from local Serb groups in the north of the state due to the arrest of a former Serb police officer.

Chollet himself said that time was spent in diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions, rather than focus on dialogue.

In this direction, he has cited the Franco-German plan, or as it is recently called the EU plan, aimed at advancing dialogue towards a final agreement.

“think the EU has provided a accessible direction, a good direction. Again, it will be difficult. It'll take a lot of work. It will take difficult decisions and courage from leaders to put aside divisions and do what is in their country's best interest”, Chollet declared in an interview for Voice of America given on January 6th.

Muhajiri expects exactly the Franco-German plan to be the focus of Cholle's visit to Pristina and Belgrade. According to him, this plan, which has not been made public but has been handed over to the parties last year, is considered a more realistic basis for dialogue, so it says the parties are interested in dialogue on this basis.

The question of association is, of course, part of the Franco-German plan, and Mr. Chollet will ask the Government of Kosovo to find a creative solution to the commitment of the Kosovo Government in this respect, because with the current blockade of this subject subsequently blocked the” dialogue, Mujariri says.

Officials in the US have indicated that their priority is the formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities, for which Kosovo and Serbia have reached two agreements, in 2013 and 2015.

Europeans have also demanded that Kosovo implement the Association Agreement, while Muhaxhiri says without starting to address this topic, “could not have any significant progress in dialogue”.

The US has even said that if the Kosovo government does not create association, it will be found “alternative partners”. According to Muhramir, this form is indirect pressure for this issue to be resolved, unless direct pressure on government results in success.

Therefore, this idea of seeking alternative collaborators has come after the Kosovo government's refusal to talk about association, any form of association, even though the US has made it clear 100 times that the association will not have executive competencies and will not be allowed to dominate Kosovo”, he says.

Despite US demands, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has voiced opposition to a single-ethnic association.

But, Muhramiri says Kosovo does not have many options and that it should accept a solution even if it includes association.

Kosovo, however, has to compromise in order to get ahead of”, he says.

Free Europe Radio secured the EU proposal, known as the Franco-German plan, intended to advance the dialogue process.

It envisions equal rights of Kosovo and Serbia, respect for territorial integrity, lack of borders, recognition of state symbols and a special arrangement for the Serb community in Kosovo.

Muhramiri says Kosovo would benefit from recognising five non-recognitional EU states and membership in the United Nations Organisation.

According to the document provided by the REL, mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia or Kosovo's membership in the UN is not mentioned, but the support the parties should give each other in the process of European integrations is stressed.

The diplomatic initiative aims for Serbia to be forced to discuss the Franco-German plan”
After Pristina, Chollet will remain in Belgrade on 12 January. According to the chairman of the Commission for Kosovo in the Serbian Parliament, Milovan Drescu, Serbia will never refuse talks with the international factor.

But it is clear that the conversation will be very short. Therefore, we reject any ideas to treat Kosovo as state”, President Vuciq's REL Drescu, who is part of President Vuciq's Serbian Progressive Party.

Milovan Drescu said the future diplomatic initiative aims for Serbia “to be owed” to discuss the Franco-German plan.

In January, Kosovo and Serbia are also expected to remain the EU's envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, and Washington's envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar. They are expected to be accompanied by French President and German Chancellor Emmanuel Bonne and Jens Pletner.

European and American Emissaries have also visited Kosovo and Serbia in recent months. Diplomatic campaigns, according to Muhramir, have shown success in the past.

It is a privilege for Kosovo that there is such great interest in reaching the final agreement on the part of the international community, as even in Rambouillet and Vienna it is evidence that this is the only approach that can lead to the success of the <x1) agreements.

The same is happening now, so Kosovo must be co-operative with the internationals in order to benefit from their interest and eventually the dialogue with Serbia gets an epilogue and that becomes a historic stage for Kosovo, and the Balkans in general”, he says.

Serbia's “
While the EU's proposal, in Kosovo, has been accepted and by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, is seen as a good “basis for further discussions”, officials in Serbia have expressed themselves more reserved.

Kurti has even declared that Serbia has rejected this plan, during a meeting of the National Security Council held in October last year, referring to a statement by Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who the world declared Serbia could not accept a plan where Kosovo's independence is recognised.

Daciq said on January 10th that Serbia has three red lines as far as Kosovo is concerned: any agreement reached must be implemented, non-recognition of Kosovo's independence and ensuring the security of Serbs living in Kosovo.

International Interest in Final Agreement
EU envoy for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Miroslav Lajcak has warned that 2023 could be a crucial year for reaching a possible agreement.

He has declared that the only “window of possibilities” to reach an agreement is from March of this year until December or early 2024.

Loic Folires, political science professor and expert for the Balkans, told the REL Balkan Service that Washington and Brussels, with these efforts are seeking to avoid the outbreak of a new conflict.

According to him, 15 years from Kosovo's declaration of independence, it is time for the parties to reach an agreement and that it is in Pristina's interest to accelerate this process to normalise its international situation.

“However, from Serbia's point of view, the status quo is good for President Vuciq”, he said.

Fhoures added that as soon as a legally binding agreement can be reached, the EU can remind Vuciki that being an EU candidate implies that you should be serious about certain “issues currently kept silent”. In this direction he cited reforms in rule of law, judiciary, media freedom, environmental legislation, as well as the fight against corruption.

Kosovo and Serbia dialogue with EU mediation since 2011. The process is said to be intended to conclude with a legally binding agreement.

Pristina wants the agreement to include mutual recognition, meanwhile, Belgrade insists on a compromise solution, without precisely showing what compromise it is about.