Joseph: Kosovo owes association, but autonomy is issue of final status

The formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities is a difficult proposal, says Professor at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, Edward Joseph, asking whether it would do the four NATO member states that have yet to recognise Kosovo's independence.

“What is the nature of this obligation? That's what's badly understood”, says Joseph.

He emphasises that “auth is the issue of final status”. According to him, the US and the EU cannot provide many guarantees to Kosovo at this point.

“I repeat: autonomy is the issue of final status. This is what the minority gets in exchange for giving up separatism é and is usually a concession to an irredentist neighbouring state, such as Serbia, when it gives up its claim to sovereignty”, Joseph said in an interview for the Serbian media, Demostat.

In this case, both Ukraine and Kosovo know that the only real guarantee of sovereignty and territorial integrity is NATO membership”, the American professor said, among other things.

Could this mean that Kosovo has no obligation to establish an association? Of course not. Kosovo has this obligation stemming from 2013. But the fact remains that autonomy is linked to final status. The more uncertainty there is about Kosovo's final status and Kosovo's ability to join NATO, the more difficult it is to reconcile for association”, he points out.