Pristina, during the celebration of 10 years of the so-called independence of the so-called Kosovo
© Sputnik / Alexei Vitvitsky
ANALYSIS AND OPINIONS
20:55 Join Date 02.01.2021
Elections, visa liberalization for Kosovo, Kurti's return, pressure on Belgrade, joint EU-Washington forces and a year of decision regarding Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. Serbs are facing an even more convulsive and further struggle for a minimum of personal and collective - ghetto rights.
This is a brief summary of what 2021 will bring to Kosovo, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and Serbs living in our southern province, seen from the point of view of our interlocutors from the Serbian and Albanian sides - Zivojin Rakocevic, journalists and publicists from Kosovo and Metohija, and political scientist Agim Shami. from Pristina.
Albanians will not be able to do without outside help
Rakocevic believes that the biggest challenges for Pristina will be the new government, that is, the question - who will control the crisis and internal contradictions, and whether due to Thaci's stay in The Hague, his system of control over Kosovo will begin to fall apart.
"In Kosovo, there are sub-institutions (criminal-clan), official institutions (municipalities, government, parliament) and supra-institutions (embassies) that share power and interests. The possibility for the existence of democracy and development has disappeared, most people go headlong to the West, schools are closing down, extreme nationalist ideas are flourishing, Islamists are confidently and surely strengthening their positions, a huge number of people are on the brink of poverty. None of the current leaders, without the help of foreigners, can unite the Albanians. The empty institutional shell will continue its life filled with tensions and the absence of solutions, especially democratic ones, "Rakočević is convinced.
Modification of the Washington Agreement
Shahimi says that next year will be moments that were unimaginable, but happened and "merged" Pristina and Belgrade in the office of former US President Donald Trump. In that context, he adds, we can expect that the Biden administration will support the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, through a possibly modified Washington agreement.
"The dialogue with Serbia was very difficult and it cannot be said that there was success. In 2021, Kosovo is entering a new stage due to new elections, a lot of time will be lost. "Dialogue is at a dead end and no one knows how it will go on, primarily because of two things - we do not know who will be in the new government and who will continue the story of dialogue," says Shahimi.
The final year of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina
According to him, it is certain that next year will be the last year of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and that it will reach an agreement on the normalization of relations.
"If the current spirit rules in Kosovo, there will be no need to sign anything anymore, because the agreement in the White House has already been signed, it just needs to be modified a little." Biden and his administration will put a lot of pressure on Serbia to recognize Kosovo, and on Kosovo not to put any more obstacles such as those taxes. But I expect a new spirit of negotiations at a higher level and in a shorter time. This means that without America, nothing is ever finished, especially in the Balkans, and Biden's administration has a tradition of negotiations and a custom to finish what it starts. And it is time to solve the problem of Kosovo and Serbia with a political agreement that will satisfy everyone, "says Shahimi.
For Serbs, the question is what dialogue brings, not brings
He is convinced that Biden's administration and the European Union will meet and conduct negotiations together, because he believes that it no longer makes sense to discuss the same topics that have been circulating for years without any effect.
Rakocevic, on the other hand, says that as far as international politics is concerned, the hawks from the time of the 1999 bombing are trying to determine their interests and positions.
"The key question for us is not what dialogue brings - but what dialogue brings!" So far, he has taken away our freedom and rights, so we do not believe in him. The moment the Kosovo Serbs and everyone else who is endangered here tell you: "We are free", the dialogue can begin, there will be returns, we will live in the cities. The basis of dialogue is respect for someone else's freedom, not life in someone else's freedom! During the Trump administration, the European Union pursued a policy towards Kosovo, which was traced by the Clintons, Obama and the American Democrats. With the victory of Joe Biden in the elections, most of the differences in terms of relations with Kosovo and Metohija will disappear. "Kosovo is an interesting, personal and emotional project of the American Democrats and will remain in that embrace for too long," Rakočević points out.
And while our Albanian interlocutor claims that America will support the idea that the Kosovo Special Court will try not only Albanians, but also Serbs, Bosniaks, Roma, everyone who wore someone's uniform and committed a crime, Rakocevic says that Serbs will continue
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