The announcement that the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) have officially initiated the procedure to amend the EU’s negotiating position for Chapter 35 for Serbia, to include the obligations agreed upon in Ohrid, has been portrayed by pro-government media as new pressures and “traps” for Serbia emanating from Brussels.
When the Brussels Agreement was signed in 2013, the Serbian government committed to normalizing relations with Pristina. The process officially became a part of Serbia’s negotiations within Chapter 35, which typically encompasses all issues that can not be categorized under any other negotiating chapter. In the EU’s Common Position concerning Chapter 35 from November 2015, it is noted, among other things, that the transitional criteria for this chapter will be updated to reflect future developments in the Dialogue.
Incorporation of the agreement reached in Ohrid as an official part of the negotiating framework for Serbia’s accession to the European Union is not new information.
In the first address after the Ohrid agreement was reached, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, stated on 19 March last year, that Brussels would monitor the implementation of the agreement and that it would become part of the negotiation process between Serbia and Kosovo on their path to EU membership.
This is also stated in the Implementation Annex of the agreement, which was also accepted along with the Ohrid agreement.
“The Parties take note that the Agreement and the Implementation Annex will become integral parts of the respective EU accession processes of Kosovo and Serbia. The Parties note that immediately after the adoption of the Agreement and this Annex, the EU Facilitator will start the process to amend the Chapter 35 benchmarks for Serbia to reflect Serbia’s new obligations stemming from the Agreement and this Annex. The agenda of Kosovo’s Special Group on Normalisation will equally reflect Kosovo’s new obligations stemming from the Agreement and this Annex”, stated in the Annex.
Furthermore, after the European Council summit in December last year, EU leaders called on the EC to propose amendments by the end of January 2024 so that the obligations arising from the Ohrid agreement would be included in Chapter 35.
Maja Bjeloš, a researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and member of the Working Group for Chapter 35 of the National Convention on the EU (NCEU), told EWB that EU representatives were clear during meetings with officials from Belgrade and Pristina that the implementation of agreements from Brussels and Ohrid would be a condition for both Serbia and Kosovo in the accession process.
“The proposal to include obligations from the Ohrid Agreement in Chapter 35 with Serbia is in line with the EU’s general stance that agreements within the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue are legally binding, including verbally agreed-upon agreements. Therefore, it is certain to expect that the European Commission will insist on the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement and exert pressure on negotiations to fulfill the agreed-upon and de-escalate the situation in the north of Kosovo”, Bjeloš noted.
According to the rules of accession negotiations to the EU, Chapter 35 includes all those issues that are not covered in the 34 negotiating chapters. In the case of Serbia, from the beginning of the negotiation process, this issue encompasses the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
In the case of Serbia, Chapter 35 involves a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of agreements reached within the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. This means that all the obligations that Serbia needs to implement from agreements in the dialogue from all previous agreements between Belgrade and Pristina are included in this chapter.
However, Maja Bjeloš points out that in the last five years, leaders in Serbia and Kosovo have not been fully constructive in the negotiation process, and the EU has not been a successful mediator, which is why the United States has taken precedence in the process.
“Despite the influence of the United States on the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to implement agreed-upon agreements, I’m not optimistic that the dialogue will ultimately contribute to a better quality of and the position of the Serbian community in Kosovo”, Bjeloš said.
RSE: Changes attempted to be prevented by the Enlargement Commissioner
Although Hungary, as well as the 5 EU countries that do not recognize Kosovo (Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, and Romania), accepted the Franco-German plan in Ohrid, at the beginning of the year, there were speculations in the media that Hungary, which otherwise recognizes Kosovo’s independence, could block the change in the EU’s negotiating position for Chapter 35.
According to Radio Free Europe, the changes were attempted by the Enlargement Commissioner, Oliver Varhelyi, and this is the reason why there was a delay in the process of drafting proposals for amendments for Chapter 35, which is the responsibility of the European Commission. According to the annex of the Ohrid Agreement, work on these amendments was supposed to start immediately after the parties reached an agreement in March.
Although the request for the proposal came from the biggest political body of the EU, the European Council, sources confirmed that Varhelyi continued to resist fulfilling the obligation assigned to him and a formal document.
“Despite two sets of important conclusions (at the ministerial and EU leaders levels), Varhelyi went against all and tried to block it until the last moment”, said an official to RSE.
Technical negotiations on changing the negotiating position are underway, and it is expected that this issue will be on the agenda of one of the upcoming meetings, European Western Balkans learns.