If Pristina does not give up the idea that the Association/Community of Serbian municipalities (ZSO) will be only a NGO within Kosovo, key negotiations in Brussels could fail, learned Novosti.
According to our information, due to the risk of a fiasco, (which would mean the ramp on the European path of Serbia) the American diplomats put pressure on Albanian leaders to agree to a compromise. The representatives of the US Embassy in Pristina had an important role, which “mitigated” the Albanian position before the technical dialogue that begun today. The US goal is, according to our information, that ZSO get some kind of executive powers and autonomy, but not to resemble to the Republika Srpska.
But, also other topics on the agenda will be not easy.
Pristina insists that on the basis of a formal Austrian request, it receives its own international dialling code, what deeply enters the status issues. Belgrade proposed that Serbia give permission for the new dialling code for the territory of Kosovo, under the condition that north of the province and Serbian communities remain in Serbian telecommunication system.
Albanian leaders have so far not agreed to this compromise. Their proposal is that their telecommunications company take control of the entire system, and then subsequently enable cheaper calls to the central Serbia.
The agreement on energy will also not be easy, since Pristina insists that “Valač” and “Gazivode” should be handed over to a Turkish company that bought the entire energy network in Kosovo, while Serbia has no plans to give up its property.
Agreement on the removal of the Peace Park from the bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica might be the easiest issue. A pedestrian zone could be opened, and later the mayors could agree on introducing the traffic over the bridge.
