Is there a sustainable solution for the CSM?

Albanians fear a new entity in Kosovo, while Serbs fear they will be left with nothing. And while the draft CSM helplessly floats in limbo between Belgrade and Pristina, the US and EU, the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex, the Constitutional Court and the Venice Commission, interlocutors of Kosovo online are certain of one thing - regardless of which model is implemented, the key word must be - sustainable solution.

The opposition claims that the European draft proposal for the CSM gives Serbs autonomy similar to that of the Republic of Srpska as the second entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while officials in Pristina have been claiming for years that they will not accept anything that is not approved beforehand by the Constitutional Court.

The public has been manipulated with several possible solutions for the Community of Serb Municipalities.

Not without reason. As early as March last year, information emerged that the EU special mediator in the dialogue, Miroslav Lajčak, was considering as many as 15 models for the formation of the CSM.

Albanian Post soon claimed that among them is the "case of the Sami Parliament in Sweden" as an institutional mix.

"The Sami Parliament" in Sweden is the representative body of the Sami people in Sweden and acts as an institution of cultural autonomy for the Sami people. The head of this institution is appointed by the Government of Sweden, but only after a proposal from the Sami Parliament.

Thus, the "Croatian model" was also on the agenda, which, according to its spokesperson, Prime Minister Albin Kurti offered as a solution in Brussels.

"The Croatian model for the Community of Serb Municipalities proposed by Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Brussels leads to problem-solving and could be acceptable to Serbia," said Perparim Krieziu, spokesperson for the Kosovo government, in early May last year.

However, this option was soon forgotten, and the UK's envoy for the Western Balkans, Stuart Pic, this March offered the Northern Ireland model as a good example for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, but also as a solution.

Swedish Ambassador to Pristina Jonas Vesterlund last week brought the CSM issue back to the region.

"I understand the concern about the Community. I am quite old and I remember when I participated in the creation of a similar community in Croatia, when I worked for the United Nations from 1996 to 1998. We set up a similar structure for Croatian Serbs. This structure did not in any way endanger the Croatian state, so I think it has a history of success," Vesterlund said.

He added that it is unjustified to draw a parallel between the CSM and Republic of Srpska, pointing out that the circumstances in Kosovo and Bosnia are completely different.

"I think mentioning Republic of Srpska in Bosnia is a bit unfair because this is a completely different context. So I respect the fear, or rather the concern, but I think this can be done peacefully. Other EU member states and the US can only support and recommend to the government to establish the Community," Vesterlund concluded.

The "Croatian model" in practice

And the President of the Serbian National Council and the Independent Democratic Serbian Party (SDSS) Milorad Pupovac, similar to the Swedish ambassador, believes that it is not realistic to expect Serbs in Kosovo to have a status similar to that of Republic of Srpska in BiH.

"As for comparisons with the Republic of Srpska as an entity within BiH, these comparisons are such that they do not take into account the specific position of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and the relations between Serbia and Kosovo. It is not realistic for the status of Serbs in Kosovo to be like the status of Republic of Srpska for a number of reasons, from the distribution and arrangement of the Serbian community itself in Kosovo and Metohija," says Pupovac for Kosovo online.

However, when it comes to the "Croatian model," he warns that Serbs in Kosovo should learn from the mistakes of Serbs in Croatia, who were granted self-government through the Serbian National Council and the Joint Council of Municipalities, which in practice - are at the level of non-governmental organizations and without defined financing.

"Our experience in Croatia is that we have minority self-governments, but their status, their position is not adequately regulated in the Croatian system. This means that, although these two self-governments, and what interests you the most is the Joint Council of Municipalities, it has the formal status of a non-governmental organization, even though the statuses of non-governmental organizations are not regulated by any international agreements," says Pupovac.

He explains that representatives of the JCM are elected in local and regional elections in Eastern Slavonia and that this can in no way be a format of an NGO.

"Unfortunately, in Croatia, this has not been ensured to this day. This should be a lesson to our compatriots in Kosovo and Metohija when considering the status of the Community of Serb Municipalities. That the status should be defined in advance, that it certainly should not be, and should not be the status of a non-governmental organization, and that the conditions of financing should be defined. Because, in our case, the conditions for financing depend on political circumstances," says Pupovac.

He emphasizes that Serbs in Kosovo should therefore seek a "third solution."

"In our opinion, a third solution should be sought, which can be similar, but in a number of elements, it should be a third solution as all solutions for members of minority peoples or another people in a country are specific. There is no one and the same solution anywhere, but it is built and elaborated from a specific political and interethnic context," emphasizes Pupovac.

Models for coexistence and life

Lawyer Milan Antonijevic adds that solutions should be sought in models that have shown to work and enable not only coexistence - but also life.

"We should look for sustainable models that work and where you have both return and coexistence and ultimately, I hope that coexistence will at some point turn into life. Only then will we have a truly strong Serbian community. I think that it is in the interest of cooperation in the Western Balkans to have a strong Serbian community in northern Kosovo, in enclaves, protection of cultural heritage, Serbian Orthodox churches, and that cooperation that must exist," says Antonijevic in an interview for Kosovo online.

He is convinced that international representatives have fallen into a trap because it is wrong to look for models for the CSM in the region.

"I don't think that this is something that should guide us. Here we are talking about an international agreement, we are talking about the fact that all European countries, the US, Serbia, Pristina authorities are included in this agreement. So, they are at the table. Seeking a solution 100 or 200 or 300 kilometers away from northern Kosovo is not questionable," Antonijevic believes.

Commenting on the statement by the Swedish Ambassador to Pristina, Jonas Westerlund, that the Croatian model would be good for Serbs in Kosovo, Antonijevic says that such parallels are not good as they do not consider the specific needs of the Serbian community in Kosovo.

"We are primarily talking about security, then about culture, education, healthcare, and some other areas that are unquestionable in Croatia. So, if you are talking about security, that is a question that is not raised in Croatia at this moment, meaning you really have a system there where incidents do not occur, they are responded to, or they receive their resolution in another way. When we talk about the Community of Serb Municipalities, we are talking about a small territory.

He thinks the same way when the Bosnia and Herzegovina model is mentioned.

"It is incomparable to any Republic of Srpska in terms of territory, on the one hand, and if we are talking about rights, I do not see why it would be harmful for anyone to transfer a certain level of rights to the Serbian community," emphasizes Antonijevic.

He emphasizes that, given the fact that Serbs used to live in Kosovo in much greater numbers, the solution should be comprehensive and cover all those "problematic areas" for the survival of the Serbian community in Kosovo.

He reminded of the models that were analyzed and developed from 2000 to 2003, one of which was a proposal based on the formula applied to the Åland Islands.

"I would return to some models we analyzed at the beginning of the 2000s. We developed, for the needs of the government, it seems in 2003, while Nebojsa Covic was in the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, a proposal based on the Åland Islands. We also conducted other analyses of those autonomies within certain territories, where we truly provided solutions, and I think we should return to that. These are sustainable solutions that last 50 or more years, where you don't have politicking or abuse of authority or paralyzing institutions, but rather a desire for that community in those European countries to survive," concludes Antonijevic.

What do Serbs in Kosovo think, although hardly anyone asks them anything?

A Shell Without Content

Analyst from Gracanica, Aleksandar Gudzic, says in an interview with Kosovo Online that the problem is not the models being offered but that if the Kosovo political elites were to decide, the answer would be quite simple.

"Serbs in Kosovo would not receive any form of autonomy. That Community of Serb Municipalities, if formed according to the wishes and readiness of Kosovo's political elites, Albanian Kosovo political elites, would be a non-governmental organization, a shell without content, in which Serbs would declaratively have a certain form of autonomy, but essentially, they would not have autonomy and would not be able to decide on vitally important issues," Gudzic told Kosovo Online.

He adds that such a type of autonomy would most closely resemble the form of self-organization of the Serbian community in Croatia.

"The current position of Serbs in Croatia is such that the Serbian National Council has the status of a non-governmental organization. Therefore, the political representatives of Serbs in Croatia are not asked about anything, they do not decide on key and important issues. Unfortunately," Gudzic emphasizes.

He draws parallels with Croatia on another basis as well.

"The Croatian army emerged victorious after the war in the 1990s, and the Croatian political elites believe that, as winners, they have the honor and the ability to dictate the terms and forms of autonomy to the Serbs. This is understandable. Kosovo's political elites want to give a similar form of autonomy to the Kosovo Serbs. That is, for the Community of Serb Municipalities to be a non-governmental organization, a shell without content. This is the highest form of autonomy that the current political elites of Kosovo Albanians are ready to give to the Serbs," this analyst believes.

When asked whether Serbs expect to receive a status similar to that of Republic of Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gudzic says that this is a narrative pushed by the Albanian political elites precisely to scare Western diplomats.

"They do not want the Community of Serb Municipalities to become a new Republic of Srpska or Krajina. They actually use a narrative and language that diplomats from Western democracies understand. Here, I primarily mean Western European countries but also the USA. So, they use this narrative to scare political elites and international representatives from America and Western European countries to prevent any form of autonomy from being given to the Serbs," emphasizes Gudzic.

He explains that there are many reasons, with the key one being that the Kosovo political elites do not want to face their recent past.

"The current Kosovo political elites are not ready to confront the crimes committed in the name of the Albanian people by individuals in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and other paramilitary formations in 1999 and 2000. They are not ready to confront the fact that over 230,000 Serbs were expelled in 1999 and 2000. They are not ready to face the fact that a cultural genocide was committed against Serbian cultural heritage. From 1999 to 2004, over 150 churches and monasteries were destroyed, some of which are masterpieces of world cultural heritage, some of which are among the most significant monuments globally. This speaks to the immaturity of the political society and the political milieu in Kosovo," concludes Gudzic.