New administration in Washington DC is an opportunity for normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia

Recent polls of public opinion in Kosovo show that over 75 percent of the citizens are not at all satisfied with the current status-quo in with respect to relations with Serbia and want a solution.  Also, Kosovo citizens want a sustainable solution within the next five years with Serbia. The new administration in Washington D.C. is present an opportunity for a new approach and reenergized engagement of U.S. and the EU in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. This will largely depend upon the willingness of Serbia in terms of how much it really wants to resolve the Kosovo issue. It has become now a public secret that President Vucic is not truly interested in resolving the dispute over Kosovo. It seems his position is that no solution is the solution when it comes to Kosovo.  Also from Serbian’s perspective there is no EU enlargement in the near future, and this weakens incentives for an agreement and ability for the EU to steer President Vucic in the right direction.

It will also depend on Kosovo’s willingness to compromise. Leaders in Kosovo who are telling the citizens that there will be no compromise with Serbia are not being honest and are feeding unrealistic expectations. However, the criteria for a compromise with Serbia must be ensuring effective and unitary functionality of the state of Kosovo. In this context, from Kosovo’s perspective there seems to be three key issue that will determine the ‘final agreement’ or the compromise: the status of the north of Kosovo, the status of the Orthodox Church in Kosovo, and the Association of Serb Municipalities.

No other agreement between Kosovo and Serbia in the framework of the EU facilitated dialogue for normalization of relations has generated more controversy than the 2013 and 2015 agreements on establishing an Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo (ASM). The Bosnian narrative has dominated the discourse in Kosovo against establishment of the ASM. The debate in Kosovo on ASM has been characterized in many cases with a high dose of nationalism and intentional misrepresentation of the arrangements in fearmongering style. Such a discourse further marginalized the Serbian community. Unfortunately, such fears were often fed by the Kosovo-Serb leaders. For example the election slogan of Belgrade-backed Srpska List – “Danas glasamo za Srpsku, sutra gradimo Srpsku” (Today we vote for Srpska, tomorrow we build Srpska) alluded that the result of the implementation of the parts of the agreement on ASM would lead to the level of self-governance akin to the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following the failure of the unconfirmed and alleged negotiations over border correction between Kosovo and Serbia, the idea of the ASM has gained new traction. However, in order for the ASM to constitute the central piece of compromise between Kosovo and Serbia, it seem it will require further legal and political empowerment. The options for Kosovo are rather limited because of a ruling of December 23, 2015 of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo. However, there are still solutions, including the establishment of the ASM as a hybrid mechanism.

The August 2015 agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, on “Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo – general principles and main elements” defines 12 key areas of competencies for the ASM, which includes, among others, competencies in local economy, education, healthcare, urban and rural planning, returnees, delivery of public services, etc. it goes without saying that judiciary and police, as already agreed in Brussels by Kosovo and Serbia, will remains within the existing framework and under a uniformed structure. In terms of responsibilities, as long Kosovo government at the central level retains the administrative overview of the urban and rural planning matters, as it is now with the law on local self-government, functionality of the state of Kosovo would not be undermined. Furthermore, municipalities themselves can cooperate together to form public enterprises to provide particular services. The law for inter-municipal cooperation can be of important consideration in this context. The law states that municipal cooperation is based on “performance of one or more own or extended competences of the municipalities.” In other words municipalities can establish partnership to jointly perform particular competencies.  In terms of organizational structure the agreement stipulates that the ASM will have an Assembly whose members are appointed by assemblies of participating municipalities, a President that represents the ASM, a Council of 30 members in advisory capacity, a Board composed of 7 members and an administration headed by Chief of Administration who is appointed by the Board. The issue that has been problematized here is the status of the employees of the ASM, and if they should be civil servants. The decision of the Constitutional Court opposes such an arrangement. However, the new Law on Public Officials, and the respective interpretation of its constitutionality by the Constitutional Court provides for potential legal and technical solutions.

While status-quo is damaging to both Serbia and Kosovo, it is particularly damaging to Kosovo because it means regression. Those aspiring status-quo in Kosovo-Serbia relations seem to have an agenda to making any solution about the north of Kosovo so outrageous in order to normalize lack of solution as a solution.

An open and dynamic space for discussion, within the Serb and between the Serb and other communities in Kosovo, influencing a better understanding and improving the position of the Serb community is the goal of the Kosovo Open Society Foundation (KFOS) project “Democracy, Openness and Perspective of the Serb Community in Kosovo” – OPEN. Part of this project is a cycle of texts in OP-ED format written by people familiar with current socio-political topics and processes. Opinions, views and conclusions or recommendations belong to the author and do not necessarily express the views of the Kosovo Foundation for Open Society, RTV Kim, or the New Social Initiative whose contribution is the text of Ramadan Ilyazi.

The text was originally published on January 23, 2021 on Radio Kim:  https://bit.ly/3sWizHU