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Koha Ditore has published a non-paper on the
EU-sponsored dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. The origins of
the paper have not been verified, though it is widely referred to as
French and German. They deny it originates with official Paris and
Berlin.
I’m not worried about the origins of the paper. It
clearly reflects ideas discussed within the EU. I comment below on
its dreadful contents.
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While asserting the sovereignty, territorial
integrity, and independence of both Kosovo and Serbia, in practice
this proposal requires that Pristina surrender practical application
of sovereignty over economic development, health, urban and rural
planning in Serbian communities both north and south of the Ibar
River as well as sovereignty over dozens of Serbian Orthodox Church
sites and institutions, whose protective zones would be extended in
some undefined fashion. In the north, this proposal includes an
“autonomous” district that would in addition acquire legislative
authority over finance, property, infrastructure, culture, social
welfare, the judiciary and police, housing, and European
cooperation, with only a vague wave of the hand in the direction of
Kosovo’s constitution.
In return, Pristina gets practically nothing: no
bilateral recognition by Serbia and no UN membership, only vague
promises of treatment as a sovereign state, including exchange of
ill-defined permanent diplomatic missions. President Vucic was right
when he said this offers more than the Ahtisaari Plan. It offers a
great deal more to Serbia and requires much less of Belgrade. It
would even roll back specific provisions of the 2013 Brussels
Agreement that extended Pristina’s judicial and police authority to
northern Kosovo.
All you need to do to understand the profound
unfairness of this proposal is to ask whether Belgrade would be
prepared to make it reciprocal, empowering the Albanian-majority
communities of southern Serbia in the way proposed here for the
Serb-majority municipalities of Kosovo. “No” is the answer. Nor
would Serbia be prepared to offer an undefined extension of
protected areas around mosques inside Serbia. Reciprocity is one of
the basic rules of sovereign states. This proposal would leave the
Kosovo state significantly less sovereign than it is today while
asking Belgrade to do little more than continue to maintain a
representative in Pristina.
The non-paper war is not doing the cause of peace
and stability in the Western Balkans much good. The two salvos so
far have come from one side, the first in favor of moving borders to
accommodate ethnic differences and the second in favor of keeping
borders where they are but not respecting the Kosovo’s sovereignty
and territorial integrity. So I think I’ll prepare my own non-paper.
It won’t move borders and will be consistent with official US policy
of respect for the sovereignty and terrritorial integrity of all the
states of the Balkans, but it will add some practical means of
achieving what most in Europe, the US, and the Western Balkans says
they want: prosperous and democratic states worthy of EU membership.
Look for it in the next few days on peacefare.net!
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