Towards More Effective Police Cooperation Between Serbia and Kosovo

The process of normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo has surfaced as a top priority for the EU’s approach to enlargement in the Western Balkans. Belgrade and Pristina have embarked upon a laborious road to negotiate outstanding technical and political issues, under the auspices of an EU mediated dialogue.

Although the EU’s shiniest trophy thus far, the April 2013 Brussels Agreement, heralded a positive breakthrough in relations between the two sides, its implementation has met with significant obstacles on the ground.

A number of issues are yet to be addressed at the bilateral level, including both political matters (to be negotiated under Chapter 35 of the accession talks) and technical questions stemming from the process of harmonising national legislation with the EU acquis.

The most important issues are encapsulated by Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and Chapter 24 (Area of Freedom, Security and Justice).

Within the latter the European Commission explicitly requested from Serbia to raise cooperation with Kosovo to the same level as with any other neighbouring country for a number of policy areas, including police cooperation.

Although an elaborate web of mechanisms for exchange of information is in place, the establishment of direct police cooperation remains to be addressed as a part of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

Police cooperation is still at a nascent level, which significantly affects the ability of the competent authorities to enforce the law and fight organised crime, while also having detrimental effects on the level of human security in the region.

Based on the analysis of the Serbian Government’s strategic approach to the transposition and implementation of the best EU standards and practices in the area of police cooperation and also taking into account agreements already reached and mechanisms put in place, a set of recommendations is proposed to Belgrade and Pristina, as well as to the EU institutions.

These are as follows:

1. Effective mechanisms for police cooperation that are already in place (such as ILECUs) should be formalised and further enhanced.

2. An Agreement on Police Cooperation, modelled after similar arrangements in the region and focusing on fighting organised crime and human security issues, needs to be reached.

3. Police Contact Points should be established to facilitate police cooperation.

4. An independent oversight body needs to be established to ensure the implementation of this Agreement.

5. The EU should set the agenda and facilitate dialogue on police cooperation.

This policy brief has been prepared in the framework of the TRAIN Programme 2015 (Think Tanks Providing Research and Advice through Interaction and Networking), which is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office (Stability Pact for South East Europe) and implemented by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). This publication was produced in the framework of the project ‘Security Research Forum: Belgrade-Prishtina-Tirana’ supported by the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, while the research was supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom through the project „The National Convention on EU in Serbia – Civil Society Monitor Progress and Support Reforms in the Chapters 23 and 24“. 

The views and analysis contained in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the German, Norwegian or the UK government, or any of the affiliated organisations.