Jaksic: 2024 might be the year of resolution regarding Kosovo

Political commentator and journalist Bosko Jaksic believes that it is possible that 2024 will be the year of resolution when it comes to the Kosovo issue, possibly even faster than anticipated, considering the statement of the European envoy for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, who emphasized the need to formalize everything by the end of January.

"Europeans are in a hurry as much as Americans, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, clearly states that Serbia and Kosovo know their obligations and must fulfill them. Thus, on one side, there are pressures and increasingly specific demands with narrowed time frames. For Kosovo, this means the final agreement on the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, formulated in the European plan. The fact that the draft statute of the CSM is being sent to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo is not an argument for any delays, in my opinion," Jaksic emphasized for Kosovo Online.

Regarding Serbia, Jaksic continues, there is unconditional support for the Ohrid Agreement, which, as a reminder, as the most important part includes point 4, predicting unimpeded entry of Kosovo into all international organizations, including the United Nations and all agencies of the world organization.

"President Vucic was allowed to repeat during the pre-election campaign that Serbia will never recognize Kosovo, which, in the end, no one is asking for, and that Kosovo has no place in the UN. It seems to me that these were European gifts to Vucic, and now it's time to fulfill what he agreed upon in February in Brussels and in March in Ohrid. On the positive side, there is a growing political readiness of the EU for enlargement, a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine and, in a way, reminiscent of the circumstances under which Bulgaria and Romania were admitted to membership, when the political factor was more important than the criteria for entry," Jaksic believes.

He adds that many of these issues will come to the agenda of the new government of Serbia, and there are already some signals that more concrete work will be done to fulfill what is demanded from Belgrade.

"The agreement that from January 1, vehicles with Kosovo plates can enter Serbia is a small step but a significant signal that these problems will be resolved. It seems to me that the next step ahead, and it will happen quickly, is the repetition of elections in Kosovska Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zvecan, and Zubin Potok, with the participation of Serbs. Therefore, the process is accelerating; there are no more stops as there were before and no more tolerance as there used to be, especially during Angela Merkel's time. Precisely because of that, I conclude, without the attributes of pessimism or optimism, that 2024 can be the year of a solution," Jaksic says.