Vecernje Novosti: And Paris against delimitation?
France, like Germany, is against the "delimitation" between Belgrade and Pristina, reports today Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti.
Vecernje Novosti sources point out that the opposition was expressed to any change in borders or administrative lines in the region during a conference of ambassadors held last week, which was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron. Paris's position is even tougher than Berlin's position, the daily reports.
- Official Paris fears that any sort of "re-tailoring" could provoke chain reaction in the region, even if it is pointed out that it concerns only relations between Belgrade and Pristina - says the source of Vecernje Novosti, which attended the meeting.
First of all, this relates to the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in relation to the Republika Srpska that tried to follow the example of northern Kosovo.
The daily reports that the French are strictly adhering to the Badinter principle, i.e. the borders of the Republics within the former Yugoslavia to be declared as a state ones, although it is flagrantly violated precisely in the case of Kosovo that was not a republic, using the laconic use of the Latin term sui generis which suggests "specialty", which Badinter himself always refused to comment on.
According to Vecernje Novosti, the final agreement on Kosovo could be modelled in France, on the sidelines of the 100th anniversary of the victory of the Allies in the First World War on November 11 and 12 in Paris.
According to the daily, the European Commission will endeavour to negotiate with the member states the acceptance of any agreement that could be possibly reached by Belgrade and Pristina, if it is realistically applicable and in accordance with international law, including the possible exchange of territory.
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic hinted that a solution could be reached at an international conference, a sort of ''Dayton Two'', to be held in May 2019, or before the expiry of the mandate of the European Commission:
- The precondition for such a thing is that the attitudes of the two sides are approaching, and they are currently far away, Dacic said.
Yesterday, European Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn spoke about a similar scenario and deadlines for resolving the Kosovo problem. He did not reject any idea, or solution for Kosovo, nor the exchange of territories.
The very question on whether he fears that this could have a negative effect on Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, even on the countries of the Eastern Partnership, Hahn said he thinks it's too early to talk about it.
The new round of high-level dialogue in Brussels will be held on Friday, September 7th, but the director of the KiM Office, Marko Djuric, does not expect much from the continuation of talks between President Aleksandar Vucic and Hashim Thaci and European Head of Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, because, as he points out, is hampered by an irresponsible opposition, which opposes that Serbia gets something.
Director of the Center for Foreign Policy Aleksandra Joksimovic says Belgrade and Pristina negotiations are entering the final stage and that in September we will have a clearer picture of whether we are on the move to reach a legally binding agreement on the normalization of relations between the two sides.
"Unless a solution is reached, it will not remain a status quo, as we have had until now, but the situation will be complicated," warns Joksimovic.