Ivanov: The situation in Kosovo is going from bad to worse, the EU must force the parties to implement the agreement

Helena Ivanov, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Research Center, told Kosovo Online that there is no reason for optimism ahead of tomorrow's scheduled round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina at the chief negotiators' level. She expressed doubt that the meeting will be any better than previous ones or bring any positive changes on the ground.

"None of the earlier rounds of negotiations in recent months, or even years at this point, have brought any improvements. Quite the opposite, many rounds of talks have been followed by greater escalation. Some people want to claim that the Brussels and Ohrid agreements, which were relatively recently accepted verbally, were significant steps forward, and maybe in theory they were, but in practice, very little has been implemented. The situation in Kosovo over the past few months has been going from bad to worse," Ivanov stated.

Ivanov reminded that Pristina has taken several unilateral actions or threatened to take them, and while the international community has condemned these actions, it is questionable whether they have truly prevented them or will do so in the future.

"As long as the European Union, as the main mediator in these negotiations and as the entity entrusted with leading the normalization talks, doesn't find a way to compel both sides to implement in practice what they have agreed upon—whether verbally or in writing—we will not see any progress. In a situation where agreements are made but there are absolutely no substantive consequences when they are not implemented, nothing will change. The key to the success of these negotiations is for the EU to find a way to compel both Belgrade and Pristina to implement what they agreed to over ten years ago in Brussels, and then everything else that has been agreed upon since," Ivanov explained.

When asked what that approach might be, she suggested that a good step forward would be sanctions that are truly "felt by those who are key players in the negotiation process."

"Certain measures have been adopted against Kosovo, but given the behavior of Albin Kurti's government after those measures were introduced, I think it's more than obvious that they were not sufficient to compel his government to stop the unilateral actions on one side and, on the other side, to fulfill the contractual obligations that were accepted more than a decade ago. Specifically, I am referring to the establishment of the Association of Serb Municipalities. As long as such measures are not imposed on both sides when they fail to fulfill their commitments, I think we will see very little change on the ground. This is a significant problem because it undermines the EU's credibility, but more importantly, it negatively affects the people living in Kosovo, regardless of their ethnicity," Ivanov concluded.