Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, in his recent op-ed published in Blic daily called for a wider social dialogue on Kosovo. His invitation was accepted by the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts (SANU), Serbian Orthodox Church and part of the opposition, Voice of America reported. Some see this invitation as a sharing of the responsibility, by shifting part of the burden to others, given the role Vucic had in the times during the war in Kosovo. In the spring of 1998, Serbian Radical Party (SRS) joined a coalition with Milosevic’s SPS and JUL, and Vucic was appointed as a Minister of Information. The war in Kosovo escalated during the mandate of this government, and Serbia was bombed by NATO in 1999. Belgrade and Pristina are for 12 years in negotiations. The Brussels agreement seen as the biggest step ahead brought little results. Meanwhile, the President Vucic tries to keep an active role in reaching the agreement. Martin Brusis, political analyst from Germany thinks that “Vucic’s call to internal dialogue on Kosovo could be an attempt to strengthen the Belgrade’s position in the forthcoming negotiations with Pristina on the implementation of the Brussels agreement and “normalization of relations.” If the public in Serbia would confirm Kosovo is part of Serbia, then the Government of Serbia could refer to it, in an attempt to defend its negotiation position.” Nikola Burazer from the Centre of Contemporary Politics said Vucic’s statement should be understood foremost as a preparation of the public to some major steps in the continuation of the negotiations, in particular agreement on full normalization of relations that would probably be highly unpopular. Also, all interested parties in Serbia that should take part in this dialogue do not have a chance for perspective dialogue. Serbian Academy of Science and Arts is having huge problems as it is divided and does not enjoy high reputation among the citizens in Serbia. The Serbian Orthodox Church is to the great extent dependent on state subventions, and when it comes to the opposition, according to the Vreme weekly magazine journalist, Dejan Anastasijevic, “most of them do not have a stance on Kosovo and those who have it would be better if they would not have it at all.” From this perspective, the dialogue is in advance sentenced for failure. Anastasijevic also explained that buying the time for Vucic means he will be able to deal with the Kosovo issue for some time, because the moment when Belgrade and Pristina close the dialogue and make an agreement, the EU leaders would expect from Serbia to deal with other burning topics, such as the rule of law, judiciary and close ties with the Russian Federation. Pristina is in favour of postponement due to similar reasons.

Invitation to a dialogue to the Serbian elite could be interpreted as “checking the ground” and invitation to the opposition is a possibility to get reactions from them so he knows exactly what to expect from the opposition in the future, Anastasijevic further explained, adding that he does not trust in the President’s Vucic story.