Becirovic: There is still a danger of an armed conflict in Kosovo, which would affect the region as well

The pressure on Belgrade, but also on Pristina, will increase in the coming period, according to the director of the IFIMES Institute from Ljubljana, Zijad Becirovic.

As Becirovic states for Kosovo Online, "nevertheless, the key paradigm of the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic is that "they can't get everything and we nothing" and a compromise solution will be the main guide in the dialogue if it is even possible immediately after the events in the north of Kosovo".

"In any case, we need to talk, because we have a state of fragile peace and short-term stability. There is a great responsibility on all actors. Serbia, taught by the experience of the 90s of the last century, will certainly not rush and risk being recognized as a disruptive factor or being provoked and marked as the initiator of a possible conflict," Becirovic says.

Last year, Kurti announced a final solution by spring, but Becirovic believes that "recently quite confused and diametrically opposed, even confusing statements have been coming from Pristina".

"And this statement should be understood as such. There is no official deadline for the end of the dialogue because the events on the ground are distancing the parties in the dialogue from each other, while at the same time, the existing situation calls for an intensive dialogue in order to avoid the worst, which is an armed conflict."

The establishment of the CSM is something that both the US and the EU insist on.

" The key actors say so, even Gabriel Escobar, the Special US envoy, says clearly and decisively that the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (CSM) is "almost" established, This is the primary task of the West, i.e. the US and the EU, but also Germany, which has an important role, but in some aspects plays a negative role in the events in Kosovo.”

The barricades were removed, but there was a new incident when a member of the Kosovo Security Forces shot a Serbian boy and a young man, and Becirovic believes that there is a real danger of new unfortunate events.

"It can be freely said that the situation in Kosovo was a question of peace and war. There is indeed a real danger of an armed conflict, which if it were to happen would no longer be local but would soon engulf the region, and also a part of the European countries. Due to the situation in Europe primarily caused by the Ukrainian crisis, the events in Kosovo represent the highest degree of threat and danger of an armed conflict. The question of who is ready to take responsibility arises - to be the first to start an armed conflict and thus take responsibility for another war on the European continent. The barricades have been removed, but tension and mistrust remained, especially after the wounding of a Serbian boy and young man in Gotovusa. Now it is the turn of diplomacy and politics to find an appropriate solution, that is, to reach a mutually acceptable agreement," Becirovic says.