Head of the Kosovo delegation for the technical discussions with Serbia told the Voice of America that he does not expect any result from Sunday’s meeting between the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels. He added that statements of the Serbian officials are throwing a heavy shade to the meeting.
‘There were different expectations also for the last meeting but in fact it went very badly. I do not have any expectations. Let us wait and see what is going to happen with the agreement. Furthermore, I was surprised that despite the persistence of the international community and the European Union that there is an agreement on energy, in an inexplicable and strange manner Serbia’s President and Prime Minister appear and say that there was no agreement on energy. Such cynicism brings a black shadow or a heavy shadow to this meeting and it looses hope that there will be a constructive development in this aspect. I do not have any expectations whatsoever, I do not believe on anything positive however it is positive that they are meeting,” he said.
Arifi said it is very important for Kosovo political parties to agree on the future of the discussions. “It is good to reach an agreement at the level of caucuses of the parliamentarian groups and the leaders of the political parties, because (current situation) does not only make it more difficult but it harms the process, therefore we should be together in this process,” Arifi said.
He added further that meetings in Brussels would have no meaning if Serbia does not implement the agreements especially on energy.
“Implementation of energy agreement is not a process, it is an act, implementation will start immediately only with Belgrade’s political will, while it is pointless for us to go to Brussels when Serbia does not posses the political will to implement the agreements. If there is no political will to implement this agreement, then why should we go to Brussels? Why should we discuss other issues when it is clearly and simply a matter of lack of political will on a very important matter for Kosovo which can be closed with two or three discussions,” Arifi said.
He added that there are serious disagreements also on the matter of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, as both parties are speaking about different concepts.
“We have heard it earlier by Frederica Mogherini, it was said then and now in Brussels that Association of Serb Municipalities will not have executive competencies, it will be within Kosovo’s constitutional framework and laws. However, Belgrade continues to pretend that with the Association, they aim Republika Srpska and according to the up to date actions as well as political stances, I do not believe that we are talking about the same agreement,” Arifi added.
Serbia seeks establishment of this mechanism based on the 2015 agreement, which foresees wide responsibilities in several fields, however the Constitutional Court of Kosovo had found many violations and according to its verdict, the association can be established only based on Kosovo’s Constitution and laws.
Serbia requests changes in the Constitution of Kosovo in order to enable passing of more executive competencies to the Association of the Serb-majority Municipalities.
Mr. Arifi said the position of most of political forces in Kosovo is against such changes.
