During an interview on Tuesday, the former prime minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, said a mutual recognition agreement with Serbia could be finalised by the end of the year as the Serbian prime minister pushes for the controversial association of Serb municipalities by the same date.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008 after the bloody 1998-1999 Kosovo war with Serbia, of which it was a former province. Since then, EU-led dialogue for normalisation has been largely unsuccessful, with most signed agreements not implemented and mutual recognition, which Serbia says will never happen, not once being on the table.
“Serbia will insist on what it calls full normalisation without recognition, de jure. I think this will be the last battle between Kosovo and Serbia, the allies to fully agree with Serbia. The agreement for the full normalisation of Kosovo-Serbia based on mutual recognition is close. I believe it is before Christmas,” he said.
This will be based on years of work; he added while thanking the EU and the US for their involvement.
“I am convinced we are in the right direction; it would be good news for us. The news about the agreement would be a kind of liberation,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Serbian minister and leader of the People’s Party Vuk Jeremic said that if Kosovo does not accept the formation of the Association of Serb Municipalities, there will be no agreements.
He said in a resolution that a deadline should be set for 31 December this year and that Serbia should declare all Brussels mediation unsuccessful and over.
“It is part of the Resolution for Kosovo and Metohija that the People’s Party will propose to the Assembly of Serbia”, said Jeremic.
He emphasised that the resolution commits the Government not to take any steps to enable Kosovo’s membership in international organisations, primarily the UN.
His statements echo the sentiments of Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who, during a visit to Kosovo’s Serb majority north at the weekend, said there is no chance of further agreements on normalisation if the association is not formed.
“The establishment of the community of Serbian municipalities is the basis of the Brussels agreement, of the first agreement on normalisation, and until we have the association of Serbian municipalities, it is impossible to discuss the second agreement on normalisation,” she said.
The association is a planned self-governing but backed by a Belgrade institution comprising the Serb-majority municipalities of Kosovo, including some 50,000 people. It would create a situation similar to that of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where a separate entity, with the support of Belgrade, exists within another country.
Kosovo has flatly refused to consider such an option saying it is unconstitutional and also completely wrong to ask a sovereign country to allow the formation of an independent and self-governing entity within its borders.
Stakeholders say it is unfair to ask Kosovo to yield some of its national integrity as part of negotiations to gain reciprocity and rights to which it is entitled in the EU, NATO and UN.
The EU has pushed for the establishment of the association but has remained tight-lipped on the jurisdiction and executive powers that would be bestowed on it.
