Serbian institutions in northern Kosovo turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle for the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina during the fifth round of the dialogue, which was the worst since October last year. Talks will resume on 4 March, and according to the information learned from diplomatic circles, there is big international pressure to reach an agreement.
During talks, as we learned, Pristina was not against Serbian proposal on Community of Serbian municipalities in the north, but has repeatedly refused part of the proposal, by which executive and judicial power was provided to that body. Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, after his meeting with Hashim Thaci, confirmed that they talked about the community of Serbian municipalities, because all open questions are secondary compared to this one. He said that some progress has been marked, but that expectation of international community, about a big result, would be overestimated.
“The Serbian side put a proposal on the table for a community of Serbian municipalities that has neither been accepted nor rejected. We will not allow the dismantling of institutions, until we agree what will replace them,” said Dacic, adding that it involves many complex issues of the judiciary, security, health and education.
According to information from well-informed sources in Pristina, Catherine Ashton and Angela Merkel are requesting from Dacic and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic a “very quick response” that would enable Thaci’s government complete control over Kosovo north.
According to these sources, if Serbia wants a date for accession talks, it has until April to remove all employees of the Serbian MUP (Ministry of Internal Affairs) from Kosovo and Metohija, regardless of whether they were born there and live there. Another urgent task that must be completed by May is – Civil Defense of northern Kosovo. The Government of Serbia is requested to immediately dismantle civil defense units, and the third request is dissolution of the current municipal assemblies and election of new. The elections, without any interference of Belgrade, under the laws of Kosovo, would conduct Pristina under the control of the OSCE and the European Union.
Former Serbian ambassador to Germany, Zoran Jeremic said that Vucic’s visit to Berlin is a good move because, as he says, it is of utmost importance lobbying the strongest and toughest member of the EU. “Germany cannot be softened in a different way. Vucic is doing that correctly, by discussing and verifying of all the progress that Serbia has made. His move is good, because it is not softened with the nice wishes, but in coordination with the interests that exist there, and at this moment, it is the most that can be achieved,” a longtime diplomat said.
He also highlighted the importance of this stage, which, according to his words revived at the right time, not as before, at the eve of crucial EU decision. “Germany likes to say clearly what is and what will be done, in an easy and understandable way, and to come up with sustainable solutions, what Serbia did in Berlin,” he concluded.
Serbs are preparing a peaceful resistance
Northern Kosovo Serbs have no intention to fulfill any of Ashton’s and Merkel’s requirements, even if Dacic signs the agreement with Thaci. Serbs are still hoping that Constitutional Court of Serbia will react and that agreements reached so far between Pristina and Belgrade will be annulled. If it does not happen, Serbs are preparing for a peaceful resistance, by which they will try, at any cost, to prevent division from Serbia and integration in an independent Kosovo.
