Summary of the week 33

The prerequisite for agreement, progress, and de-escalation is understanding. When the parties do not understand each other, meetings pile up, but there is no progress. Another week in the region has passed in this attempt to bring goals closer, marked by both new and old misunderstandings.

A week full of visits, understanding, and polite meetings… But also with the traditionally less cordial encounters, like the dialogue sessions. Progress, even in Brussels, was indeed made. Namely, both the negotiators and the mediator sat at the same table.

“If we have come to the point where simply sitting at the negotiating table is seen as success, it says enough about how the European Union has lost its right to moderate this dialogue,” Srđan Barac from the Center for Social Stability told Kosovo Online.

Brussels is not losing patience. It calls for mutual understanding and schedules new meetings, albeit without any visible objective, according to analyst Aleksandar Mitic.

“Lajcak is just checking boxes, organizing meetings, and writing reports on them. But there’s no actual progress,” Mitic says.

No meeting, the most persistent ones claim, is in vain. No exchange of views is a waste of time. The important thing is knowing what matters to whom.

“We can spend a whole summer day analyzing what would suit others. What’s important here is what we want,” says Dušan Prorokovic from the Institute for International Politics and Economics.

Whether it’s because of the shorter autumn days or a lack of understanding, both the negotiators and the mediator now need a fresh impetus. Many see it in the upcoming American elections.

Thus, the president of the Kosovo Business Alliance, Agim Shahini, speculates to Kosovo Online when the effects of that decision could be seen.

“I expect a lot of progress in the dialogue with Serbia next year. I think the talks will have to restart from scratch, but that a solution will come,” Shahini says.

Even before the New Year, with expected obstacles, we must get used to some personnel changes. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic openly expresses disappointment with the new envoy role of MEP Picula but promises to remain constructive.

“We’ll work with him, we’ll talk with him. But we understood the European Parliament’s message loud and clear,” Vucic says.

Sometimes it’s better not to understand each other than to hear messages that frighten us, like the women who recently spoke out about the harassment they experience. Several residents of North Mitrovica shared their experiences.

“He was driving so slowly… Then he rolled down the window and said, ‘Come, let’s have a coffee. Don’t be afraid…,’” one of them recalls. Milica Rakic Andric from “Social Initiative” recounts more experiences of women who confided in NGOs.

“It happens that a woman crossing Jarinje or Brnjak receives a friend request from a policeman who checked her documents just minutes before. This is against the rules and ethics,” says Rakic Andric.

They believe that reporting to the police is pointless. When those who should prevent this don’t understand them, they decide it’s easier to stay silent.

And sometimes, as in the case of students walking with tape over their mouths, the messages left unspoken are heard the loudest. And understood best.