Mutual mistrust reasserted itself between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo, who on Saturday night once again left the negotiating table without stamping their signatures on the painstakingly sponsored Brussels-sponsored agreement to normalize relations.
The two sides, however, “are fully committed” to applying all the measures contained in the text and, more importantly, the annex on how to put them into practice, assured the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, after more than 12 hours of talks that he did not hesitate to describe as “difficult” with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Kosovar prime minister, Albin Kurti. The meeting was held this time in North Macedonia, on the shores of Lake Ohrin, a beautiful setting that was intended to convey serenity to the parties to seal an agreement that would establish peace in the Western Balkans, an old goal that has taken on an air of emergency following the war in Ukraine.
Although it is not exactly the result that the European Union was hoping for – in the end it is a verbal agreement with no concrete deadlines to move forward on key issues such as the creation of an autonomy regime for the Serbian minority in Kosovo – he concluded that is as far as it can go and chose to move on to implement the accepted commitments, even if it is without ink.
“I have to admit that we presented a more ambitious and detailed proposal”, revealed Borrell, pointing out the responsibility of both parties in the result. On the one hand, Kosovo “lacked flexibility on the substance of the agreement”. On the other hand, Serbia did not make it easy regarding the method, with the “previously expressed refusal to sign”, even if they agreed to apply it. With the “creative” proposals of the European team, it was not enough to make Vucic or Kurti change their minds, but the agreement and the attached document on the implementation, the most delicate part, are given , even so, for “adopted”, and both parties are “obliged to comply with them”, since they will be part of the EU accession negotiations.
The agreement details the way to maintain “good neighborly relations on the basis of equal rights” until reaching a de facto recognition of Kosovo’s independence, since the main text, endorsed by Belgrade and Pristina on 27 February in Brussels, includes the commitment to “recognize their respective national documents and symbols”. What was intended to close Ohrin were the practical steps to carry it out. In other words, “what must be done, when it must be ready, by whom and how”, explained Borrell in an institutional statement, alone, at the stroke of midnight on Saturday. “It is often said that the devil is in the details, but sometimes it is more in the schedule.” This is where the agreements reached on the terms are not very concrete.
On the one hand, Kosovo has pledged to “immediately” open negotiations to establish an arrangement that “guarantees an appropriate level of self-governance” for the Serbian minority, a milestone included in the 2013 agreements that Pristina has not made and that it has led Belgrade to wallow in other issues. Borrell avoided referring to this structure as an association of Serbian minority municipalities, which is how it was defined.
By now, the term is toxic and Brussels prefers to talk about principles and models of autonomy already proven in Europe. “We don’t want to experiment or try something that has never been tried elsewhere”, said a high-ranking European official in Brussels recently who avoided specifying the examples they are studying. “If there are models that work, why be afraid to incorporate their elements? Both parties are beginning to hear these arguments.”
On the other hand, the two parties have agreed to support “as a matter of urgency” the declaration on missing persons that should lead to the exchange of information on the location of graves, another milestone for the longed-for reconciliation blocked by terminological and substantive differences, in this case by Belgrade.
Back home, Kurti took refuge in Vucic’s refusal to sign to justify the result. The Serbian leader, for his part, reiterated that he does not want to sign any legally binding international agreement with Kosovo because he does not recognize its independence. The two leaders, however, assured that they want to maintain “normal relations” with the other party. Europe clings to this will.
