Can a final agreement be reached this year between Kosovo and Serbia? Analysts Speak

For reaching agreement this year, Bekim Kabashi says dialogue dynamics are going towards the end.

He says the Kosovo side in the dialogue has more pressure, following continued international demand to establish the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

Kabashi says the agreement has been reached, but requires full implementation.

The International Union has defined a dynamic of reaching agreement and it is within this year, so the distance by the end of this year is required by the parties to have an agreement. So the deal has already been reached, but implementation of the agreement determines whether or not it has been implemented. In this case, pressure is more to the Kosovo side for the fact that the Kosovo side has drawn pressure by refusing to acknowledge the proceedings to establish association. It is known that from the very beginning when this process of dialogue began, the international community exclusively asked Kosovo to fulfil a commitment it has had from the 2013-2015 agreements, and that despite having also been rejected in the Ohrid Agreement is within it, and Kosovo is tasked with three 2013, 2015 and 2023 agreements. Pressure on Serbia exists, but the very fact that Kosovo is mired in its pace makes it impossible for the same pressure to be adopted to the same degree in Serbia”, Kabashi says.

The following weeks, Kabashi sees the definition of the Serb majority municipalities.

If we observe the situation in the dialogue process, then it makes us optimistic about the fact that it has gone according to the agenda, despite the parties' differences and objections. The sides have sat down and reached agreement. We have the Brussels and Ohrid agreement, then the meeting deadlines are followed in Brussels, the agreement on the missing and the opening of the association theme regardless of whether we have a draft that has approached the parties, but the association has begun to be discussed and I think that the coming weeks will have a greater clarity about this”, Kabashi says.

While political analyst Shemsi Jashari sees no end to this process this year. He sees more international pressure ahead of Kosovo.

If we look at recent European diplomacy movements but also the American and frequent visits to the Government of Kosovo and remote statements, we can see a kind of pressure being put on the Government of Kosovo to move forward in implementing those agreements, especially the Association. On the other hand, when we look at the statements of Kosovo officials, and especially of the chief parliament, we cannot have this year a conclusion of the Kosovo-Serbia” negotiations process, says Jashar, as he also tells of the mistake Kosovo has made in the process.

What's known is that the insistence of our partners is on going to the foundation of the Association at any cost. I think that Kosovo has made a progressed mistake when it has allowed a commission formed by the Government of Kosovo itself to build a draft status, which has not been introduced to the Government of Kosovo, so that by handing it directly to Brussels, it has created a starting ground from which to start negotiating about how the Association is to be built, it has gone with maximum demands”, Jashar said.