17 minutes agoWeber: We have not seen in the past, that the parties first resist to accept the call from Brussels and then refuse to sit at the same table.
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)German analyst Bodo Weber continues to view the European and American mediators' approach to Kosovo-Serbia dialogue as wrong and therefore the product of this process as agreed on in Brussels and the plan for its implementation that was reached in Ohrid. In a written interview for Gazette Express, [...]
In a written interview for Gazeta Express, Weber has blamed Berlin, Paris and the current American administration, which, according to him, when it comes to dialogue is demonstrating more continuity than the other way of the Trump Administration.
The “think of dialogue, from Berlin and Paris last year, which was later largely put into Lajcak's hands, Borrell and the Americans (which under the Benden administration in a shocking way is creating more continuity than non-continence with previous policy of the Trump Administration towards the Western Balkans) I consider it absolutely wrong and ultimately condemned by failure”, Weber told Express.
Weber has also been surprised with recent developments in Brussels when Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq travelled to Brussels last Thursday following EU invitations for a meeting aimed at ending the situation in the north. European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell held meetings with them, but failed to hold a joint meeting.
The loss of a trilateral meeting, Weber sees as another evidence of what serious political turmoil the EU and US have created over the past year with their policy of dialogue.
“We have never seen in the past, that the parties first resist to accept the call from Brussels and then refuse to sit at the same table”.
And as the US and the EU are trying to push the sides towards a compromise that would initially calm the situation in the north, they are similarly threatening with measures if they do not accept the plan of the deespass presented by Borrell.
“The US applied certain sanctions. Also, if I am clear, the EU has initiated specific sanctions by not inviting Kosovo representatives to specific EU forums. If financial sanctions follow, this will naturally have even greater impact”, says Weber.
But, could visa liberalisation affect Kosovo as a sanctions. Weber says this has already happened when Kosovo was pushed towards accepting the German Franco plan.
“This means that visa liberalisation de facto was applied as a form of sanctions”.
But, he points out that it is not safe now if visas were to enter the sanctions menu if Kosovo and Serbia disagree on the despassing of the situation in the north.
Commenting on the EU's warned measures towards Kosovo, Weber says the responsibility for worsening the situation in the north is Kurti's, but the error lies in the wrong approach in the negotiation process, including the softening that Vuciqi calls the authorities.
The “knew from the beginning of that process that Prime Minister Kurti has some dogmatic political-ideological views regarding dialogue and Kosovo Serbs that would make negotiations difficult. Instead of taking these into account, this wrong political approach undertaken by the EU and the US has only solidified those positions and unilateral fibers and pressure on Pristina will only be counterproductive”, he noted.
Weber sees the situation that the two sides have reached on paper, while the situation on the ground has only left. According to the German analyst, there is no similar situation in history.
“In the history of political dialogue we have not had a case when after reaching the agreement, there is a passage of the situation on the ground, as happening in the north of Kosovo” it added.
Citing the release of three Kosovo border police from the Vuciqi regime, according to Weber, the pressure has not been completely restored on Kurti Government.
“To achieve an immediate de escalation, Belgrade will have to give up the insistence that conditions Serbian List participation in the new elections in the north with the establishment of the Association I have not seen that Vuciq has yet surrendered. Plus, Kurt's selective insistence on rule of law and Borrell's surprising public demonstration of a complete ignorance of rule of law is further complicating the process”.
Speaking about the positioning of Prime Minister Kurti in this situation, Weber says the Kosovo side has remained more principled in negotiations.
“Although the government's performance, including the north and the Kosovo Serbs, has proved that the Constitutional government's insistence on the principles of democracy and the rule of the law is non-consistent, selective, Pristina has remained more principled than the EU-US side in negotiations and has been declared the main problem, due to this protection of our Western principles and values and for insisting on the negotiating aspect, such as the one for the eventual and comprehensive agreement, which before, for example. was also the political position of Berlin”.
With this approach, says Weber, the West has only fueled Kurti's dogmatic views, fostered his stubbornness, and undermined their credibility in relations with Pristina.
For this reason, Weber says that it is so difficult to reach the short-term deceleration agreement, and let alone implementing the basic agreement.
The “has become a dynamic kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in which Kurti government actively contributes to the escalation in the north last year for the license plates and now for mayors of municipalities like when forced to introduce mayors to municipal buildings, despite all having been fully aware in advance, this will eventually lead to violent escalation”.
However, Weber says the main political and now security responsibility falls first to the EU and the US, second to Vuciqi and third to Kurti.
But where does the issue of association lie?
Weber says that association once in Western centres, separately in Berlin, was seen as a solution within the final agreement, meaning recognition of Kosovo by Serbia.
The “of course has previously been the understanding of key Western actors, particularly Berlin, that the issue of association can only be resolved within the framework of a comprehensive final agreement involving formal legal recognition of the Republic of Kosovo from Serbia and that only in that context could you have Prime Minister Kurti and his party” states German analyst.
Serbia's “permission to turn association into a top priority, without a clear path towards a final agreement and a clear path to recognition, was the firm recipe for failure”, Weber concludes.
