BELGRADE – Over the past few years, we have had the mantra of four EU’s freedoms in the Western Balkans –of goods, services, capital and people, but this region is still an unfinished conflict zone, assessed Veton Surroi, journalist and writer, who spoke at the today’s panel “Unraveling the Setbacks and Missed Opportunities: Charting the Way Forward in Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue” at Belgrade Security Conference 2024.
According to Surroi, in order to find the solution to Kosovo’s issue, “we should try to think outside the box”, and there should be “a shared space of security” between Kosovo and Serbia.
“The Republic of Kosovo exists, but the Republic of Serbia treats Kosovo as a part of its own territory and identity… We should try to think outside the box, which would imply greater security for both countries. For instance, Serbia does not want to be a NATO member, but it should not prevent Kosovo from joining the Alliance”, Veton Surroi said.
Talking about the sentiments and expectations of the Serbs living in Kosovo, Isak Vorgučić, Director of Radio Television KiM, stressed that they are, on one hand, connected to Serbia, but, on the other hand, “there is a notion among the Albanian majority in Kosovo that Serbs do not want to adjust to so-called ‘new reality’.
“I think that the Serbs in Kosovo are adjusted to the new circumstances… The fact is that many of them have dual citizenship, which is allowed under the Constitution of Kosovo… However, we hope that some kind of agreement between Belgrade and Pristina will be reached soon so that the services which were earlier provided to Serbs by the Serbian institutions in Kosovo can be continued”, Isak Vorgučić underlined.
Reflecting on the perceptions of the Albanians in Kosovo regarding the normalisation process, Jeta Xharra, Director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) in Kosovo, remarked that “Kosovo’s society sees this dialogue as a dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, not as Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue”.
“This Kosovo Government looks reluctant to establish the Association of the Serb Majority Municipalities, but the other governments since 2013 were also reluctant to do so because the public in Kosovo thinks that some other priorities from the Dialogue have to be implemented first, the fear is that in this way another Republika Srpska would be formed”, Jeta Xharra said.
In Xharra’s opinion, the Association which would not have the executive powers needs to be established, so that the Association will not make Kosovo dysfunctional.
On the other hand, Borko Stefanović, Deputy President of the opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), and former negotiator in Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, claimed that “Serbs in Kosovo are treated as enemies of state”, whereas in Belgrade they are treated as a voting machinery.
“I think that Albin Kurti wants all Serbs to leave Kosovo. Kurti is not willing to establish the Association, in the same way as Aleksandar Vučić does not truly want Serbia to become an EU member state. Therefore, we have two autocrats. Vučić and Kurti are helping each other and the Serbs in Kosovo are paying the high price of it”, Borko Stefanović said.
According to Stefanović, “we need a clean, new solution to Kosovo’s issue, but not with these guys in power”.
The panel was moderated by Filip Ejdus, Professor of the Faculty of Political Science, at the University of Belgrade.