European Political Community of Serb-majority Municipalities

Writing for Kosovo Online: Dragan Bisenic, journalist

The summit of the European political community in Moldova was held during the last Kosovo crisis, so it became a topic of debate in itself and got a new context in which this meeting placed it. And the main purpose of its current holding at the very edge of war conflicts in Ukraine was to "send a message to Russian imperialism" and strengthen the position of Moldova as a border country in the conflict zone.

The European Political community was created on the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, which should confirm the existence of a "geopolitical Europe" in which all the countries of the European continent would be found, without distinction. The first Summit was held last year in Prague, and this year's Summit gathered 44 heads of state in Chisinau. However, three countries were absent: the Vatican, Russia, and Belarus. It served to claim that the "Russian war of aggression" shows that "value-based foreign policy" is a prerequisite for "geopolitical Europe". French President Macron believes that in order to achieve such a foreign policy, the European Union had to position itself more broadly and do so at regular meetings of the heads of state and government of all European countries in the newly established forum of the European Political Community.

"Community" is a term that at the moment combines the problems created in Kosovo with the ambitions of Europe, but, as it seems now, there is no equivalent on either side of our coin "European Political Community of Serb-majority Municipalities". While the European Political Community claims that "value-based foreign policy" is the goal of "geopolitical Europe", German Chancellor Scholz singles out sovereignty and territorial integrity from those values, emphasizing that this meeting was held "in a great tradition: namely, in the idea that sovereignty and territorial integrity of things that should be respected and that peace between us is of great importance for us in Europe", it is clear that it is not thought that these values should be applied and valid in the Balkans.

While the unrest in Kosovo continued, there were sharp reactions from American officials that ranged from the harsh condemnation of the unilateral moves of the Kosovo government by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, through Blinken's call the following day for the parties to cease the conflict, with the simultaneous announcement of consequences for Kosovo in relations with the US because it did not accept and listen to the advice given to them by the US administration to avoid this crisis. At one point, the American ambassador in Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenier, suggested that the north of Kosovo could be in a "de facto" protectorate, which could take the form of Palestine or Cyprus, which implied that the current dialogue conducted by Belgrade and Pristina could fail.

American senator and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Chris Murphy, who recently visited the Western Balkans region, spoke in a similar tone. He stated that Pristina's insistence on unilateral action is currently the biggest obstacle to calming down the situation in Kosovo. The Prime Minister of Pristina's interim institutions, Albin Kurti, "knew exactly what would happen if he sent mayors to take over these municipal buildings. He knew it would disrupt the dialogue process, and he did it anyway," Murphy said in an interview.

At the meeting of the European Political Community, the version of events in Kosovo looked quite different. If we exclude the statements of French President Macron, which were largely in agreement with Blinken's assessments, there was not a trace of sharpness in the reactions of other European officials, noting the sequence and chronology of events, and what was reacted to started "from the middle" where both sides were asked to stop further expansion and intensification of the conflict.

Such a discrepancy in the views of the latest events between the American and European sides is as surprising as it is worrying because it indicates that there is no readiness to see the problem as a whole, and therefore, not to seek a satisfactory, objective solution.

The proposal of the "five" on calming the situation seems to be more concerned with how to prove and confirm the Basic Agreement and its annex, because it brings the new document into the framework of the dialogue, in order to state that its points 3, 4, 5 and 6 "are aligned with significant progress in defining the self-governing framework for the Community of Kosovo Serbs". We are talking about the points in which the withdrawal of special police units, the reduction of the combat readiness of the Serbian Armed Forces, security on the ground, and the cancellation of protests, but also enabling municipal buildings to be "accessible to municipal officials" are foreseen. Finally, in mid-July, the mayors resign, and new elections are held in November. The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, after all the talks in Moldova, concluded in a staged manner, "Everyone knows that Kurti is guilty, but we have nothing to do with it."

On the website of the German government, it was stated that the Summit was also related to "the commitment of Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia to become members of the European Union", with the addition that "this also applies to the six Western Balkan states", in which "there has been progress". In this regard, Chancellor Scholz together with French President Macron held meetings to help "ease tensions between states." We talked intensively with Armenia and Azerbaijan. We had intensive talks with Kosovo and Serbia. The summit was also linked to the commitment of Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia to become members of the European Union. This also applies to the six Western Balkan countries. There would be progress".

Scholz's statement from the summit in Chisinau is illustrated by a picture of him on the stairs in the foreground, several steps ahead of all the other visible participants, in the company of Vjosa Osmani. Macron and Plenkovic lead the group.

According to the French president, Osmani and Vucic, agreed to consider the plan presented by France and Germany to calm tensions in Kosovo, and the two were asked to make "clear decisions" "for next week", the French president insisted, also speaking of "priority and the urgent resolution of the issue of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in Kosovo".

The head of the French state also expressed his regret for "holding elections when guarantees of smooth progress were not provided" and the election of "four mayors with less than 5 percent of voters, which is clearly not a requirement for legitimacy." The plan includes Kosovo's commitment to hold new elections in disputed areas and Serbia's commitment to encourage participation in elections. The two leaders are expected to hold consultations and respond to the proposal next week,” Macron added.

Scholz, meanwhile, called on both sides to "show responsibility." "It is indeed a very serious situation... We had an intense debate... about the challenges on the ground. That takes courage. All stakeholders need to show courage. Everyone should make their contribution, as responsible political leaders," he said at the press conference.

The European public has a tendentious image of the events in Kosovo, that is, a significantly different image than what actually happened. Most distortions and modifications are done in their chronology and ignoring the causes and consequences as well as the assessment of responsibility for the events. The French and German media in reporting on the events, for example, completely denied their readership the information that Blinken and other American officials condemned the behavior of the Kosovo government, instead, they took over and quoted his second statement in which he called for a "de-escalation of violence", but they didn’t quote it in its entirety, but only in this part. It is obvious that they did not want to cast a shadow on the behavior of the authorities in Pristina. The papers "Figaro" and "La Pointe" emphasize exactly that. The whole news of "Figaro" is worth conveying.

Under the headline "Kosovo: The United States calls on Kosovo and Serbian leaders for "immediate de-escalation", the paper quotes the call of the US Secretary of State from Oslo that the governments of Kosovo and Serbia "take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions", to immediately state that the problem was created by Serbian protesters because "last weekend in the north of Kosovo, tensions broke out between the demonstrators of the Serbian minority and the NATO forces stationed there" when about 30 soldiers and about 50 Serbian demonstrators were injured who, with the "support of Belgrade, refuse to recognize the authority of the Pristina government over the former Serbian province ".

Only then comes the sentence stating that the US "criticized Kosovo, which it has long supported" after Prime Minister Albin Kurti decided to introduce Albanian mayors into municipal buildings elected based on minimal participation in local elections, which were boycotted by the Serbian majority there. Finally, the conclusion follows that Antony Blinken "warned both sides about "unilateral actions". Kurti's spicy messages to Blinken that he is "naive" and to Hovenier that he was chosen by the people, not the ambassadors, and that he answers to the people, were not recorded either.
In this situation, European portals, such as Euroactiv, use the wording that both parties are required to fulfill a "sealed" agreement as if the agreement had really been signed.

The European mediator for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajcak, in his interview for Deutsche Welle, did not mention the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, nor the unilateral moves of the Kosovo government. For him, all this was an "absolutely unnecessary and illogical escalation" since after "many, many months of negotiations, they reached two important agreements." High Representative Jozep Borelj said again that "the process" of creating the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities was about to begin.

It could also be assumed that European politicians would want to focus on the solution and not on the problem itself. The solution is more urgent, it seems, but only to the extent that localizing the fire is a certain success in preventing the entire house from burning down. But the fire will remain. It must be clear that only an effective and functional Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, as provided for in the Brussels Agreement of 2013, is an option that opens the door to the stability of the region and the achievement of an amicable solution. Anything else would deeply compromise the credibility of the international community, not only in Kosovo and Serbia but also in Ukraine and Moldova.