(Europa/Kosovo/Serbia) How Much is UN Seat for Kosovo ? (Pyotr Iskenderov, Strategic Culture Foundation, 21 febbraio 2013)
The fifth round of talks between Serbia's Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci was held on February 19-20 in the conditions of unprecedented efforts to keep the details under wraps. No formal statements were made after the first day of the event. The sides just stressed the need to go on with talks the next day. Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on February 19 that the participants would continue their talks «for as long as they can». The both interlocutors emphasized the round was «the most difficult one in the whole history of dialogue».
In Brussels they artificially dramatize the significance of the talks and do it on purpose. President of European Council Van Rompuy had warned that the Serbia and Kosovo European Union membership depended on achieving concrete results at the negotiations. José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, said even more categorically, «This may be a crucial year and this is a crucial week in this important year». Barroso expressed his expectation that this round «will take place in the same constructive spirit as their previous meetings» and that it would lead to progress in the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. «The results of the dialogue are critically important for EU relations with both Kosovo and Serbia», said the president of the European Commission.
So what does Mrs. Ashton have to offer this time? As it is seen in Brussels, there are two documents to become a foundation for a final agreement between Belgrade and Pristina. One of them envisages the Serbia’s agreement on the dissolution of all Kosovo Serbs self-rule structures – first of all police units – and the following Serbs integration into self-proclaimed Kosovo’s branches of government. According to Bekim Çollaku, a higher political adviser close to Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, the Pristina’s stance on the issue is fully supported by Brussels. According to him, there is no pressure from international partners because they understand the Kosovo authorities will not offer to the Serbs living in the north more than envisaged by the Ahtisaari package. Peter Blomeyer, Ambassador of Germany to Kosovo, told Albanian Kosovo Sot newspaper with German straightforwardness that, «it should be clear to the citizens in the north that Kosovo inseparable, that borders are untouchable and that these citizens in the north belong to Kosovo». The newspaper adds «Autonomy is not on the table of talks». At the same time Doris Pack, a deputy of the German Christian Democratic Union in the European Parliament, shed some light on the mystery saying the Serbia’s government may take away its objections to the Kosovo’s UN membership… in an interview for Radio Dukagjini, Doris Pack said he was convinced that Kosovo would receive a seat in the United Nations at the end of the process. According to AFP, Serbia’s premier Ivica Dacic has hinted that «Belgrade would consider giving up its opposition to Kosovo's bid for UN membership». As AFP reports, the Serbia’s elite thinks the Kosovo’s UN membership may open the way for Belgrade to kick off talks on joining the European Union, as well as for «new foreign investments» in Serbia.
So, the price of Kosovo’s seat in the United Nations is «new investments» and setting the date for starting the European Union membership negotiations. The dramatic events in neighboring Bulgaria are a good example to illustrate what kind of investments are in store for the Balkans. There the European Union energy companies like CEZ, EON and EVN have established their own control over the energy market that resulted in a sharp socio-political crisis in the country. Actually, the government of Bulgaria has no control over the strategically important energy sector… It is an open question if the Serbia’s government ready to follow the example while being accused of «giving up Kosovo». Anyway, the US Balkans politics guru, Daniel Serwer, the United States Institute of Peace, Washington, is not inclined to define even an approximate time for Kosovo’s UN entry. As to him, «it will be sooner rather than later».
Talking about the plight of Kosovo Serbs, neither Belgrade, nor Pristina care to even keep them abreast on the talks which decide their fate. According to Kosovo media, Dacic and Thaci have already agreed «in principle» that the Serbian self-rule structures in the north will «go through evolution». It’s only the pattern of the evolution that is on the table. If it is really so, the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina on the recognition of the Kosovo’s self-proclaimed statehood by Serbia is not so far away.