Grubesic: Hasani would insist on Kosovo's membership in OSCE

Researcher at the Center for Social Stability, Aleksa Grubesic, stated that the election of Albanian Foreign Minister Igli Hasani as the new Secretary-General of the OSCE would be detrimental to Serbia’s interests because he would advocate for Kosovo's membership in that institution, just as he had previously insisted on Albania's co-sponsorship of the Srebrenica Resolution.

“If we look at it from the perspective of Serbian interests, from that standpoint, it certainly would not suit us for the Albanian candidate to be the Secretary-General of the OSCE,” Grubesic told Kosovo Online.

Commenting on the possibility that a representative from the Western Balkans could head the OSCE, given that Albania has nominated Foreign Minister Igli Hasani for the position, Grubesic believes that Serbia would not gain much from it.

“We must take into account that he also proposed that Albania be a co-sponsor of the Srebrenica Resolution, which is very harmful from the perspective of Serbian interests. Recently, he also had a meeting with the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Kokanovic, where he emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina should recognize the so-called Kosovo as an independent state, as if only the Bosnian side has a say in that matter, and not, of course, Republika Srpska as well,” Grubesic points out.

He explains that the scope of the Secretary-General's work is related to the competences of the OSCE, which are connected to security, human rights protection, and the implementation of democratic and electoral processes.

“Except in the case of discussions about the relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which fall under the OSCE's jurisdiction, Hasani would certainly insist on them if elected. He would always take the side of Pristina, i.e., the so-called Kosovo. Moreover, what he cannot achieve, but would certainly want, is the admission of the so-called Kosovo to the OSCE, given that all OSCE member states must agree for a new member state to be admitted,” Grubesic says.