Brussels agreement allows Serbia and Kosovo to get out of war state of mind

{image1}The main event of the second SRF Belgrade-Pristina-Tirana was dedicated to the discussion about the Agreement on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, reached on April 19 2013, and the subsequent agreement on its implementation. Three issues that were discussed during the main panel were: strengths and weaknesses of the agreement, who supports and who opposes the agreement and what are the implications of the EU mediated Belgrade-Pristina agreement.

Speakers at the panel were Prof. Dr , President of the BCSP Executive Board, Arjan Dyrmishi, senior researcher at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation from Tirana, and Florian Qehaja, Executive director of the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies from Pristina.

Strengths and weaknesses of the Belgrade-Pristina agreement

All the speakers agreed that Brussels agreement is a milestone and a significant step forward in the relations between Belgrade and Pristina. However, they also agreed that the future improvement of the Serbian-Albanian relations depends largely on whether and to which extent the agreement will be implemented.

Dyrmishi welcomed the agreement, stating that it de-blocks the potentials of improving relations between Serbia and Albania. Qehaja said that Brussels agreement is of great importance because it opens a space for resolving problems from the past. However, as he highlighted, the dialogue process needs to be more inclusive, and the voices of all stakeholders (not only state institutions) have to be heard.

{image2}Supporters and opposition to Belgrade-Pristina agreement

In respect of the supporters and opponents of Brussels agreement, prof. Hadzic said that most political parties in Serbia, both from the Government and from the opposition, support the dialogue process and the agreement, while the main opponents are right wing parties and groups and the Serbian Orthodox Church. According to latest public opinion surveys conducted in Serbia 57% of the citizens are in favor of the agreement, 29% oppose it, while 14% are neutral towards that issue.

Qehaja said that Kosovar society is divided into three parts regarding the Belgrade-Pristina agreement. According to Kosovo Security Barometer, 43% of the citizens of Kosovo support the agreement, 38% oppose it, while 19% do not have an opinion on that matter.

“Politicians in Albania mostly support the agreement, but there are still some of them who play the nationalist card, advocating for the union of Albania and Kosovo as the only solution”, said Dyrmishi. “On the other hand, Albanian business is in favor of the agreement, since it looks for greater market for Albanian products and tourism”, he noted.

What is the future of Belgrade-Pristina agreement?

Prof. Hadzic pointed out that the implementation of the agreement depends on the internal political will, as well as on the change in dominant discourses on inter-ethnic relations.

In regards to the Serb community from Kosovo north, prof. Hadzic said that both governments need to provide guarantees for their rights in order to gain the support of Kosovo Serbs for the implementation of the agreement.

{image3}Scenario planning exercise

The second part of the SRF meeting in Pristina was dedicated to scenario planning exercise for the representatives of Kosovo civil society, media and academia. The aim of this exercise was to build four potential scenarios that could unfold until 2023 with particular focus on how will the relations among Prishtina-Belgrade-Tirana impact the domestic affairs of Kosovo by 2023? The separate report on the scenario planning exercise and its results will soon be done.

The 2nd Security Research Forum (SRF) Belgrade-Pristina-Tirana meeting was hosted by the Kosovar Center for Security Studies in Pristina on 28 May 2013 and it gathered relevant representatives of Kosovar security community including policy makers, civil society representatives, academia, and media.

Report prepared by BCSP Researcher Isidora Stakic