German analyst: Border change bears unforeseeable effect (N1, Kossev)
There will not be border corrections or the territory swap between Kosovo and Serbia because that would leave the unforeseen consequences, Bodo Weber, a German analyst, has said, the KoSSev website reported.
Weber, an expert on the Balkans – European Union relations, also said late on Monday that both Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and his Kosovo’s counterpart Hashim Thaci realised that there was a significant resistance within the EU, especially from Germany, to any border changes.
However, he said that "there are some within the EU who are not particularly interested in what is going on the ground. They would like to see any agreement, not necessarily a solution to the problem.”
He added that the idea (on territory swap) was not explained at all. “If the north would become a part of Serbia, what would happen to the majority of the Serbs living in the south from the Ibar river?”
“That would mean a return to the logic of the ‘90s. No one is bothered with the consequences... how (would) people live under such a deal. The only concern is who controls a territory,” Weber said in northern Kosovo’s town of Gracanica.
He added that the signing of the Brussels Agreement led to some normalisation of relations between Kosovo’s and Serbia’s political leaders, but that there was no improvement of relationships among the Serbs and the Albanians.
“We’ve seen (the implementation of) a main part of the agreement, i.e., the integration of police force, and the local authorities into the judiciary system, but, unfortunately, the first accord has not yet been fully implemented,” he said.
“The Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) has not been formed, and that is the main obstacle,” Weber told the representatives of the civil society, media and some politicians in Gracanica.