Chances for Belgrade-Pristina dialogue to conclude during the mandate of EU High Representative Federica Mogherini are rather small. Pristina platform is an end to Brussels dialogue, while political elites in Serbia and Kosovo are not ready for a compromise. Tariffs on goods from Serbia and BiH are the most harmful for Kosovo. These all was said during an event organized at the Mitrovica Social Club as a part of the Center for Civic Energy project funded by Kosovo Open Society Foundation.
Member of the Serbian National Forum (SNF) Momcilo Trajkovic opined there was no true will for the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina and that this was a dishonest relationship.
“Political elites are not ready for a compromise, no matter what they say about it, and the compromise they want is in fact a compromise that needs to strengthen the conflict, to further disrupt the relations when we talk about the demarcation, for example, rather than going into the direction of stabilizing the relations between Belgrade and Pristina,” Trajkovic said.
“If an exit strategy would be a delimitation, I think it would complicate the matters and I fear that under such concept, the Serbs from northern Kosovo would live in the south of Serbia, while the Serbs south of the Ibar River would have no chance to survive within the “Greater Albania” or diminished Kosovo, so a corridor and migration from Kosovo would follow for them,” Trajković warned.
He stated the dialogue should return to the level Kosovo Serbs – Kosovo Albanians, in which they would talk about everything, except the status.
University Professor and RTV Mitrovica Director Nexhmedin Spahiu also took part in this event and pointed out there was an essential interest in normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, but according to him, it remained to be seen what the politicians in these centers were doing on that issue.
“The entire region cannot go forward if there is no stability, foreign companies are not interested in who is responsible for the situation, Serbs, Albanians, Montenegrins … if there is a peace and stability they can invest, if they do not, they go where there is security,” Spahiu pointed out.
“Kosovo needs Serbia’s recognition and Serbia’s interest should be to preserve its influence in the region and to ensure the Serb community in Kosovo, so that the Serbs would not be endangered,” Spahiu added.
He opined the issue of tariffs on Serbian and Bosnian goods is a product of disobedience of Kosovo political class, and that it was primarily detrimental for Kosovo, which was too small to resist the West.
Spahiu warned should Kosovo continue such a policy, it might disappear. “And this is why Serbia does not recognize Kosovo, because it hopes that one day Kosovo will disappear on its own, because of things that are done by those who lead Kosovo,” Spahiu said.
Momcilo Trajkovic said that the SNF had urged Serbian opposition to come to Gracanica and present a platform for the resolution of Kosovo issue. He pointed out that during the last year they presented their strategy on all important and open issues to the authorities in Belgrade, but that they did not come to an understanding. “Now we want to bring the opposition to the scene, so that it can say what is its strategy for KiM,” Trajkovic said.
