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EWB SCREENING / Veton Surroi: There needs to be new energy and ideas in the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue

What is the state of the Serbia-Kosovo normalization process, what can we expect from the upcoming US Presidency of Donald Trump and how to achieve long-term peace between Albanians and Serbs are some of the topics we discussed with Veton Surroi, a renowned writer and publisher in Kosovo. The interview was conducted on the Belgrade Security Conference 2024, held on 18-20 November, where Surroi was one of the speakers.

European Western Balkans: What is your take on the current perspective of the Serbia-Kosovo normalization process? Do you see that there is political will on the two sides to actually move forward?

Veton Surroi: It is a good time to reflect on how the future lies ahead. We are at a stage of historical transformations. It is an age of geopolitics in which there’s a war in Ukraine and an intensified war in the Middle East and possibilities of conflagrations in other places.

Therefore, the way the war in Ukraine will end, the way the West after the US elections and after the German elections will find a new narrative in addressing all of these crises will greatly influence the way further for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

The dialogue reached a peak with the Brussels-Ohrid agreement, and that peak was stalling for a significant period of time. Now, we are at the stage in which Kosovo and Serbia need to be understood from the point of view of stability of Europe. Therefore, to reengage with a new emphasis.

EWB: What are your expectations of the second mandate of Donald Trump towards the Serbia Kosovo normalization? Do you believe, as some say, that Vučić has reasons to celebrate while Kurti has reasons to lament the victory of Donald Trump?

VS: Fortunately, despite the problems that we have, the problems between Kosovo and Serbia are diminished in comparison with crises in the world. A lot of the attention of the international community – a lot of the oxygen – is consumed by these other crises.

This is not something that happens with President Trump coming to office, this is actually something that has happened throughout this century. After 9/11 the peaks of crises have moved eastwards, and therefore the attention has moved – Iraq, Afghanistan and now the pivot to Asia in Western policy.

Whatever attention the US administration can give to Kosovo-Serbia dialogue would be probably in unison with European policy. The problem with both of these is that they have reached their peak, there needs to be new energy and new ideas.

EWB: Do you believe that the idea of border changes, which was on the table during Trump’s last presidency, will once again emerge as one of the options for resolving the Serbia-Kosovo dispute?

Surroi: It’s a bit unfair to create a relationship with President Trump and the land swap idea. I think it originated in the region itself to a great extent, and it was supported by Madame Mogherini at the time, which was a blatant failure of EU policy. By the time it reached the U.S. administration via the National Security Council, it was already a baked idea. I don’t think that there will be an imposition of ideas that have had their expiry date.

EWB: Speaking of elections, we have one more elections coming up, and these are elections in Kosovo. What should we expect from these elections, the victory of Albin Kurti, and in that case, what could we expect from his next term as Prime Minister?

VS: The question is whether Prime Minister Kurti will govern with a full majority mandate, as he has now, or whether he will have to share power with other party or parties to create a coalition. This is a question that the voters will decide.

We have a rather predictable policy both in Serbia and in Kosovo. That may hinder the dialogue, that may help the dialogue if we know that we have in both countries people who actually have a full mandate to negotiate.

EWB: One of the main obstacles to Serbia-Kosovo normalization is the question of the association of Serb majority municipalities. Why do you believe there is such strong opposition to this idea in Kosovo, having in mind that it is a commitment of Kosovo on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is a rather weak kind of autonomy?

VS: Well, the ASM has reached a point of totem for both societies. If we rationalize about it, we get to a point in which the association is a right. People have the right to associate. They don’t have the obligation to associate.

We need to bring back this issue to the people, which is municipalities. There ought to be free municipal elections for the first time in the history of that part of Kosovo and in the four Northern municipalities in October of next year. Before that, a big test will be the parliamentary elections in February, in which the Kosovar Serbs need to participate in order to gain their voice and in order to gain the right to articulate their needs in the parliament.

I was an activist myself, protesting and whistling and carrying protest cards. I tell Kosovo Serbs, who are doing this 30 year later, it’s very important when there is an opportunity to actually gain political power and articulate your needs through political power.

EWB: How do you see the multiethnic future of Kosovo and the position of Kosovo Serbs? How do you believe that the best way to integrate them into the Kosovo society?

VS: It’s very important that the Serb identity in Kosovo is not only protected but actually developed. Protection is one category, it deals with monuments, et cetera. The development of identity means further developing culture, presence, education, and these can be done in a vibrant society.

The preconditions for that are there. We’re speaking of the Western Balkans, which is losing a lot of its youth in general, but it is very important for the Kosovo Serb society to try to project their future today in Kosovo by thinking of a Serb presence in Kosovo and about Serb identity in Kosovo, not about how somebody else thinks Serb identity is in Kosovo.

Many people in Serbia speak about Kosovo without knowing Kosovo, without ever having lived in Kosovo or without ever having visited Kosovo. They cannot think about a future without actually being there. You cannot prescribe futures of other regions.

Even here in Serbia, you cannot in Zaječar project the future of Novi Sad. It’s Novi Sad people who have to think about it. It is a crucial moment in which people try to assume responsibilities for the future, and they have to do it in political action.

EWB: How do you see the actions of the Kurti government in the last couple of years in the north of Kosovo? These actions have angered the international community, the partners of Kosovo worldwide, and the Serbian community, but apparently won him some support in Kosovo itself. What are the long-term consequences of these actions for Serbs in Kosovo, and the normalization process as such?

VS: We have to know what happened in the past years. We have had a period in which forms of conflict, including trying to create a security vacuum on the one side or trying to create a paramilitary incursion on the other, were the key elements.

We’ve had two or three years of not a very normal behavior that can be dealt with in political and not security terms. So there was a heavier security presence in this part of Kosovo. One of the biggest reasons for this has been withdrawal of Kosovo Serbs from institutions.

The question now is not how we address these past two years, but how we address creating legal and legitimate institutions in the four municipalities. Legitimate means basically that they have the full support of the people of these four municipalities. And how to deescalate, not in the sense of reducing (police force), but how do you create a security presence that is legitimate in the north?

I know of no other way of creating a legitimate security presence in the four northern municipalities other than the Kosovo Serbs going to the Kosovo Police Academy, becoming Kosovo police officers and taking care of the community. Within a year, if there were sufficient political will in both to support this, the Kosovo Serb community in the northern municipalities could create sufficient members of Kosovo police force who would be a legitimate security presence in which the people will trust.

EWB: One topic which seems to be absent from any discussions about normalization recently is reconciliation. How can we expect to have peace and normalization without reconciliation and if Serbs and Albanians continue seeing each other as enemies?

VS: This is a very big question, and this will probably require a change in the leadership that will lead to a change in thinking that will affect the whole generation. The big question is how do we get out from narratives of war into a culture of peace.

This is a big challenge for societies, and even if we finished the conflict today, even if Kosovo and Serbia agreed to everything today, we would still be stuck with our societies who have year after year, grown in a culture of war. We have to think in both of our societies of how to create culture of peace.

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