[ad_1]
Although it is “old” for seven years and furthermore “cemented” in 2015, the agreement on the formation of the Union of Serbian Municipalities is still only in the newspapers. Judging by statements by European Union officials, Brussels is increasingly close to accepting the fulfillment of the Albanian side’s request to postpone the JCC until a global agreement between Belgrade and Pristina is concluded. Regardless, EU spokesman Peter Stano says there is no crisis in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and that the process in Brussels is progressing. As he said yesterday, the ZSO will surely be on the table, but not on Monday, when the expert meeting of the two parties is announced.
“Let’s be completely clear, this issue must be resolved as part of a comprehensive agreement, as agreed at the first leaders’ meeting in July and confirmed at the last summit on September 7,” Stano said, adding that the EU has the intention to work hard. and provide the best services to help Belgrade and Pristina overcome any disagreements to reach a final and legally binding agreement. He announced that the next meeting at the highest political level between the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and the Prime Minister of the so-called Kosovo, Avdulah Hoti, would be held in accordance with “established practice” after expert talks.
And the EU special representative for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajcak, explained that the JCC will not be on the agenda of Monday’s meeting in Brussels, “because one of the parties is not yet ready for discussion.” Does this mean that the JCC, for now, has become “ad act” and that it will not appear as the subject of future conversations, either at an expert or political level, until the signing of the final agreement? The EU will not or cannot play the role of a strong hand and force Pristina to respect what was agreed in the dialogue with Belgrade, while in the case of the United States it has been shown that it is not lacking, said Ivica Dacic and concluded that “won’t happen before”.
“That is why I believe that the EU, before starting to share lessons with anyone in Serbia on Kosovo, should consider the fact that after seven years, the agreement has not been fulfilled,” said the foreign minister, Tanjug reports. He also said that at this time, it is completely uncertain why Serbia would go further in political agreements if there is a danger that the agreement will not be respected. According to his assessment, it turned out that in the case of the Dayton Accord, the United States is not without a strong hand. “You can hang the story that Pristina will not hang something on the bulletin board of the Kosovo government building.” Are they opposing the United States ?! Well that’s ridiculous, “Dačić said, asserting that the case of the Dayton Accord and the” iron fist “of the US may be a helper.
Speaking about Belgrade’s confidence in the current administration in Washington, Dacic assessed that it showed “an objective approach as well as good will.” “They see us a little different now than before. Now we belong to the circle of countries that they can say we are partners with,” Dačić said. Yesterday, Hashim Thaci again explained why the formation of the JCC is debatable for them. That, as said the president of the temporary institutions, it would be a big mistake and would initiate the “disintegration of the State from within.” “Community means Republika Srpska in Kosovo without recognition,” Thaci declared, adding: “Why talk to Serbia about our territory within of Kosovo? “It is a cancer for the state of Kosovo. No one on Kosovo soil has the right to speak of the Community.”
According to Radio Free Europe, Brussels has problems with the position of the Kosovo side, which now “does not want to discuss issues on which there is already agreement, which was confirmed at the last Vučić-Hoti meeting”, when both confirmed that they will discuss the Union of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo during the next meetings.
After a round of talks at the expert level, which was held in Brussels on 17 September, the head of the Serbian delegation, Marko Đurić, conditioned the continuation of the dialogue with the formation of the JCC. As noted, Belgrade does not agree that the JCC topic should be removed from the agenda or renamed in an inappropriate way that does not reflect a status-neutral form of conversation. “It does not occur to us to turn the SSO talks into talks about the position of national minorities, nor will we agree to treat the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija as a national minority,” Đurić said, adding that there was no progress in the talks until that SSO was fully implemented. , as agreed in 2013 and 2015.
The fact that, as he said, the atmosphere during the talks was not the brightest does not mean that Serbia will give up the SSO, which was promised seven and a half years ago. “We have to insist on that. We expect strong messages from all EU members as pressure on Pristina to form the JCC, which is an imperative for the continuation of the dialogue,” stressed Đurić, adding that it is about the integrity of the EU and dialogue in general.
The JCC has been negotiated, the agreement has been signed and it is time to start forming it, says Suzana Grubjesic from the Center for Foreign Policy, adding that there should be no excuses to postpone the start of its formation, unless otherwise agreed. in Brussels later. . It is obvious, as he says, that the Kosovo side is not yet ready to fulfill its obligations under the Brussels agreement.
If the EU accepts that the JCC is part of the agreement, it completely destroys the credibility of Brussels, because they “pushed” the Brussels agreement, part of which is the formation of the Union of Serbian Municipalities, believes analyst Dragoslav Andjelkovic. “If Brussels now allows the Albanian position to prevail so that the JCC, which was signed several years ago, is conditioned by a global agreement on standardization, then the EU no longer has authority. Because the EU supports the Brussels agreement and its image, its role in the geopolitical framework, depends on whether it is capable of promoting it. If it does not, it is either powerless or it deceived us, and that says a lot about the immorality of the leading circles in Berlin and Brussels “, Andjelković evaluated for “Politika” and concluded that it would mean that Serbia is a milestone for us. in the West, only Washington can be credible, not giving in to Belgrade or Pristina, but trying to be objective while Brussels is on Pristina’s side because of Germany, he says.
Grenel published images of Gazivoda with the inscription Lake Trump
The US President’s special representative for dialogue, Richard Grenell, posted photos of Lake Gazivoda on social media, showing the inscription “Lake Trump.” He posted two photos from the “Kosovo Online” portal on his Instagram account, without hiding his enthusiasm for the movements of the Serbs in northern Kosovo. Grenel also posted a photo of Lake Gazivoda with the inscription “Lake Trump” on “Twitter”, with the message that both parties “agreed on a new name.” “How to name a lake that is a serious obstacle in Kosovo and Serbia despite a compromise devised by the United States to launch a feasibility study to create jobs and more energy for the region … for both parties to agree on a new name: Trump Lake, “Grenel wrote on” Twitter, “Tanjug reports.
Yesterday, the Serbs of northern Kosovo and Metohija placed large banners on the Brnjački Bridge, on the road connecting Belgrade and Pristina, and on the Gazivoda Lake Dam, with which they sent a message of support to US President Donald Trump, for his fight for peace and progress in the region and his commitment. in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. A banner appeared on the bridge with the message in English: “President Trump, Kosovo Serbs thank you for bringing peace,” reported the “Kosovo Online” portal. The banner was also placed at the Lake Gazivoda dam and reads “Lake Trump.” Grenel in the photos marked Lake Gazivode, which is located in northern Kosovo, and the president of the United States, Trump.
The deadline for drafting the statute expired more than two years ago
President Aleksandar Vučić also declared that ZSO is an “inescapable issue” and that the Serbian side will insist on that. However, seven days later, Kosovo Prime Minister Avdulah Hoti said that the dialogue with Serbia would not discuss the Union of Municipalities with a Serbian majority, because that agreement was concluded in 2013. In 2016, let us remind you that a senior official rank of the European External Action Service, Angelina Eichhorst, expressed her hope that “important work will soon begin in the drafting of the statute of the JCC”. Two years later, in April 2018, the European Union gave Kosovo four months to draft the SSO statute and welcomed the decision of then-Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj to mandate the leadership team to draft the statute. of the Union of Serbian Municipalities.
[ad_2]
