Progress in dialogue or loss of EU funds: What will Vuchy Kurt choose?

The “Dialogue at the highest political level is either being done to reach agreement, or to discuss how to apply what has been found at”, he tells Radio Free Europe.

Kurti and Vuciq lead the dialogue on normalising relations at the highest political level, mediated by the European Union.

However, they have not been met since mid-September last year.

Politicalologist from Belgrade Ognjen Gogic says the 26 June meeting has only been called to show that <x0logu is alive” and he does not expect any concrete results.

Not that they don't have what to talk about, but the odds are small enough to agree on anything”, he says.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on June 24th that he hopes to make progress in dialogue and that he remembered there is an agreement for normalising relations, which must be implemented on the ground.

He said that “has problems” in implementing agreements reached within dialogue, but stressed the necessity of holding a “summit to know where we are”.

Where is the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia?

At the end of February 2023, Kosovo and Serbia accepted the Agreement on the road to normalisation of relations, which would have to resolve many open issues.

In mid-March of that year, they also agreed on Anex for implementation of the agreement, but, meanwhile, the parties began to express their reservations.

Official Pristina insists on signing the agreement to ensure, as it says, its full implementation, while Belgrade refuses such a thing, with the argument that it cannot accept Kosovo's membership in the United Nations.

On the other hand, the European Union has in some cases made it clear that the agreement is legally binding for both sides, even though it has not been signed.

Last week, the Government of Kosovo told Free Europe Radio that the focus of the June 26th meeting in Brussels “will be implementation of the Agreement towards normalising relations, the Anex for its implementation and the way ahead of”.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq, in a pre- opinion speech on June 24th, said the Serbian side would be constructive and would try to solve problems through dialogue.

The European Union announced that Borrell and the EU's special representative in the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, will first meet separately with Kurti and Vuciqi, and then the joint meeting will take place.

This will be the first meeting between Kurti and Vuciqi under the dialogue for normalisation of relations, following events in Banjskka ʹ the northern part of Kosovo on 24 September last year, when an armed Serb group attacked Kosovo police and killed a policeman.

Kosovo accused Serbia of this attack, but it denied any responsibility.

Other topics on the table?

Visar Ymer, executive director of the Institute for Social Policy “Musine Koklari”, believes that in the next meeting, the Kosovo Government's decision to ban import of goods from Serbia can be discussed.

The Kosovo government made that decision in mid-June 2023 for security reasons, respectively, following the arrest of three Kosovo police officers by Serbian forces.

The police, meanwhile, were released, but Kosovo did not cancel the ban, even though the international community asked for it, stressing the need for free movement of people and goods.

Politicalologist Ognjen Gogic does not rule out the possibility that, on June 26th in Brussels, the issue of implementing the Agreement for the opening of the main bridge in Mitrovica for traffic will be raised.

The “has little chance of them reaching agreement on this, so Lajcak said the bridge should not be opened unless a deal is reached”, Gogic says.

Kosovo authorities warned that this summer the main bridge on Iber, which divides Mitrovica in the southern part, where the majority Albanian population lives, and in the northern part, where most are members of the Serb community.

While there is an agreement to open this bridge, which has been reached within the framework of the dialogue mediating the EU, the latter says the bridge should be opened peacefully, in communication with the local population.

From the Peacekeeping Mission NATO, KFOR whose members patrol the bridge say any decision to open it for circulation should be taken within the framework of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

What do citizens expect?

Kosovo citizens Albanians and Serbs surveyed by Radio Free Europe say they have no great expectations of the meeting between Kurti and Vuciqi, as, according to them, the two sides have no political will for normalising relations.

They're not serious. Simply, they waste our time and energy”, Muharrem from Pristina says.

Bajrami says the meeting should not be held if Kosovo is expected to form the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

No one in the world has more rights than Serbs in Kosovo. What do they need Association for? It should not exist”, according to him.

The association of Serb majority municipalities would have to provide Serbs in Kosovo more rights, a level of self-advancing, respectively.

The light says it does not follow politics much, but that it does not believe that, in the near future, there can be progress in relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

Everyone says their confession. Nobody knows what's really going on. I don't expect anything from this meeting either. It's always the same”, says this citizen of Pristina.

Philip from Northern Mitrovica agrees with him, with the Serb majority municipality in northern Kosovo.

We don't know what they say, what they do... One side says one thing, the other side says something else... I expect the same now. The bridge will probably be opened because they [Kosovo authorities] have planned”, he says.

Practical results from the meeting between Kurti and Vuciqi do not expect either Alexandra and Mladen, as well from North Mitrovica.

I didn't even expect them to meet. There must be any chance of an agreement being reached, or, at least, implementing what is agreed upon. None of the meetings have worked so far. So, I don't think there's going to be a” now, Alexandra says.

I don't even know why they meet. Tell us about democracy and lie to us”, Mladen says.

On what does implementation of the agreement depend?

Gogic says the international community will insist that the agreement on the road to normalisation of relations is implemented, but that it is difficult to achieve on the ground, according to him.

The two sides have presented their [opposing] positions so many times that there is no room for approach. Serbia means that the Association of Serb majority municipalities is a prerequisite for moving forward, while Pristina, on the other hand, means that the agreement must be signed. It is really hard to understand why it is necessary to find out how far the views of the” are, Gogic says.

Ymer says progress in implementing the agreement depends on what is expected from the parties.

“If Kurti is expected to take the first step towards establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities, this will not happen before elections in Kosovo, which are expected at the end of this year or early next year. But there is another factor that makes this big meeting and that he is that Kurti and Vuciq will be informed once again that the agreement and the implementation plan exist and that they will not take a cent [from the EU] for the Western Balkans unless they take steps before”, Ymer says.

Lajcak, during an unprecedented visit to Pristina and Belgrade last week, briefed the parties that the approach of Kosovo and Serbia to EU funds will depend on progress in the dialogue.

The EU envisions sharing a 6 billion-euro fund for Western Balkan countries for the period 2024-2027, aimed at accelerating the region's European integration. Her plan was discussed in Tirana on 29 February.

Lajcak stressed that Kosovo and Serbia, to have access to these funds, have preconditions for constructive engagement in dialogue. /European. org