Visa liberalization for Kosovo is a "reward" after 10 years of non-compliance with the Brussels Agreement

On the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Brussels Agreement and the decade of waiting for Pristina to fulfill its obligation and form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, a "reward" for Kosovo arrived from Brussels - the European Parliament adopted a decision on visa liberalization for Kosovo citizens in its plenary session. For former diplomat Zoran Milivojevic, there is no doubt that this is just another step by the West in "rounding off Kosovo's independence", while Dragisa Mijacic, from the National Convention for the EU, says that, regardless of obtaining visa liberalization, the Government of Kosovo cannot escape from its obligation to form the CSM.

Today, the European Parliament ratified the Agreement reached at the end of November between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament concerning the liberalization of the visa regime for Kosovo passport holders. This agreement was confirmed in December by the ambassadors of the EU member states, and in January by the European Parliament's Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, so that only this formal ratification in the European Parliament remains for it to become legally valid. Citizens of Kosovo will be able to travel visa-free to Schengen countries only when the European Travel Information and Authorization System is operational, which will happen no later than January 1 next year.

The Brussels Agreement was signed on April 19, 2013, and on the same day, a decade later, the decision on visa liberalization should be solemnly initialed tomorrow by the leaders of the European Parliament and the Swedish Presidency of the EU. And not only that, as Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic hinted, tomorrow would be 10 years since Pristina had been violating the Brussels Agreement and refusing to form the CSM, the procedure for Kosovo's admission to the Council of Europe could begin. More precisely, Kosovo's application for membership in the Council of Europe, after several months of stagnation, could be on the agenda of the Committee of Ministers of this organization.

Former ambassador Zoran Milivojevic in a statement for Kosovo Online says that he has no doubt that visa liberalization for Kosovo is "another step by the West towards confirming Kosovo's statehood and that it is part of the strategy to which the European plan is linked, based on the Scholz-Macron proposal, which, he explains, it should enable the separate accession of Serbia and so-called Kosovo to the European Union".

He reminds that the European Commission once signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement with Kosovo as an entity and that "this is part of the strategy of moving that process and including so-called Kosovo in those institutions and space controlled by the West".

"Here I also have in mind the Council of Europe, which is exclusively under the control of the EU countries, since Russia is no longer there, which is also part of the attempt to strengthen Kosovo's statehood. It is all the same mosaic, visa liberalization is only one part of it. Visa liberalization should also produce effects on the internal scene in Pristina and somehow strengthen the process of European integration of Kosovo and pull it forward. That is the meaning of everything and giving the wind at the back of the Kosovo authorities. When we add to that the latest events in Kosovo and Metohija, the attitude of Pristina regarding the CSM, which obviously has no intention of carrying it out, holding senseless, illegal, and illegitimate elections in the north at any cost - then, in my opinion, all this indicates that, in essence, the Kosovo government, with its radical policy, has support in the West," Milivojevic says, who does not expect any special pressure on Pristina to move in the direction of forming the CSM.

Our interlocutor mentions that the elections in the north of Kosovo scheduled for April 23 are part of the "same package with visa liberalization".

"It is part of the strategy to resolve the Kosovo issue in a way that suits the West by the end of the year, during the mandate of this administration and in the EU and the US. Specifically, the decision on visa liberalization is something that was practically agreed upon before, now only the procedure is coming to an end. I repeat, they treat Kosovo as a state and do everything to confirm that statehood at every step," Milivojevic adds.

He expects that there will be a standstill in the dialogue on normalization because Serbia will not give up its position that the CSM is a preliminary issue and that this is a prerequisite for the continuation of negotiations on essential issues.

"The Brussels agreement must be implemented and the CSM implemented as stipulated in the agreements from 2013 and 2015. For Serbia, this is a condition of all conditions, without that there is no progress in the negotiations, regardless of what is written in the Ohrid Agreement. After all, that is taken only as a platform for negotiations, it is neither a contract nor an obligation. We have accepted that it will be a platform for negotiations and we have accepted two things there - one is an agreement on the missing persons and that an agency be formed to monitor the implementation of the agreement. And that is not disputed. However, the Serbian side will not continue the dialogue, except on some technical issues so that people can live normally, for example on freedom of movement. But there are no negotiations on substantive issues until the Brussels Agreement is implemented and the CSM is formed. Only on that basis, the Serbs can have some guarantees for survival and for a normal life and for participation in the political process, to return to the institutions, and continue some dialogue on normalization.

The Coordinator of the National Convention on the EU for Chapter 35, Dragisa Mijacic, believes that the decision of the European Parliament on visa liberalization should not be linked with the tenth anniversary of the Brussels Agreement or the obligations that Kosovo has towards the formation of the CSM.

"These are separate processes and should be viewed as such. The European Commission confirmed in 2018 that Kosovo had fulfilled all obligations related to visa liberalization, but there was a lack of political will within the EU Council to finally approve that decision. In the end, In 2022, visa liberalization was approved, among other things, to restore the European Union's shaken credibility in Pristina and enable Miroslav Lajcak and Josep Borrell to successfully conclude the negotiations on the Agreement on the Normalization of Relations, which was reached in February of this year," Mijacic says for Kosovo Online.

When it comes to the CSM, the obligation to form it is included in the Agreement on Normalization, Mijacic notes.

"In addition, the formation of the CSM is a condition given to Pristina in order to become a member of the Council of Europe, and it will probably also be a condition for obtaining a candidacy for membership in the EU. Therefore, the Government of Kosovo cannot escape from the obligation to form the CSM, rather the question is in what form and with what competencies the CSM will be formed," Mijacic emphasizes.

Professor of political science from Pristina Nexhmedin Spahiu tells Kosovo Online that he does not see the decision on visa liberalization as a reward for Kosovo, but as a hint that an agreement is expected to be reached with Serbia by the end of the year, which would open the way to hope for a better the future in Kosovo so that people do not emigrate en masse to the West, especially when visas are abolished.

"The current situation in Kosovo, especially psychologically among the people, is such that it is estimated that even half of the population could leave Kosovo. The EU countries previously thought that it would be more harmful for Kosovo if visas were abolished, than helpful. Now it is expected that solving the problem between Kosovo and Serbia will stop the trend of emigration, that things will calm down, and that an atmosphere of development will be created. That is why it was decided that from the New Year, citizens of Kosovo can travel to EU countries without visas. Why only Kosovo would be an exception, without visa liberalization.

The fact that the decision to abolish visas was timed on the anniversary of the Brussels Agreement when the beginning of the formation of the CSM is expected is not in dispute for Spaihu. He says that "the West expects that the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities will be formed and that the Kosovo authorities have committed to this.

"This was also promised by Kurti's government and it is no longer in dispute. What can be disputed is whether Serbia will fulfill its obligations, for example, when it comes to the opening of diplomatic missions in Belgrade and Pristina. This would mean tacit recognition of Kosovo, whether Serbia opens a mission in Pristina or accepts a Kosovo mission in Belgrade. This is what is anxiously awaited not only in Kosovo but also in the West," Spahiu says.