After Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić suggested a few days ago that he would be ready to have “an internal dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivaca Dačić declared that a “delimitation to what is Serbian and what is Albanian,” could be a possible compromise solution.
Yesterday, Minister Dačić clarified his point by stating:
I made a clear proposal to delineate between what is Serb and what is Albanian as that is in the interest of both Serbs and Albanians, and the only possible solution. […]
If the Netherlands and Belgium can exchange territory, if India and Bangladesh can do it, and many others, why should not Serbs and Albanians be allowed, if that guarantees peace in this century.
A solution for Kosovo that would result in Serbia’s recognition of the country is a prerequisite for opening of EU accession negotiations, even though some EU countries such as Spain have yet to recognize Kosovo.
Both the declarations of President Vučić and Minister Dačić seem to suggest a solution in which the northern part of Kosovo, which is inhabited by a majority of ethic Serbs, would join Serbia, whereas the Presheva valley between Macedonia and Kosovo might join Kosovo. Such a solution would reconstruct both states along ethnic and religious lines.
Apart from the ethnic component, redrawing the map of Kosovo would also have considerable economic consequences, as the potentially very profitable Trepča mines lie in the Serbian minority part of the country.
