Jeremic: Negotiations in Brussels "a tug-of-war" between the EU, US, and Germany over primacy in Kosovo

Long-time Ambassador of Serbia to Germany Zoran Jeremic assessed for Kosovo Online that Serbia has shown diplomatic maturity in Brussels and had not fallen into the trap of Pristina to reduce talks from political to the technical level of negotiations, emphasizing that the dialogue process was in crisis because there was a "tug-of-war" between the EU, US, and Germany over primacy in Kosovo.

He emphasized that official Belgrade had conveyed a clear message that it was interested in dialogue and participating in it, and it was up to EU officials to consider the relationship Pristina had towards their role as mediators in the negotiations.

"Kosovo has shown that it wants to shift the dialogue from the political level to the alleged level of technical cooperation between the competent institutions of both countries, which we cannot accept. That's why it's good that the meeting took place. We came in the usual format, and it's up to the European Union to consider how Kosovo behaves towards it and the world as a mediator," Jeremic emphasized.

When asked if, in this way, the EU had recognized capitulation regarding the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, Jeremic says that's too strong of an assessment because it's a "tug-of-war" among great powers over primacy in Kosovo.

"It was a 'tug-of-war.' There's a serious conflict over primacy in Kosovo between the EU, the US, Germany, and other factors. And this is one of those. But that's their issue. What should primarily concern us is the position of the Serbs in Kosovo and the unilateral measures Kosovo takes to make their lives and stay in Kosovo more difficult. To me, this often resembles the racial laws of Germany. They were legitimate at the time and passed in Parliament, but they were inhumane. Similar to what Kosovo is doing now. It's enacting regulations, laws that make life for minority communities difficult or prevent it on the ground for which it considers itself responsible," Jeremic says.

According to him, the key question is whether the EU wants to implement mechanisms to prevent being pushed out of the negotiation process.

"There are mechanisms, indeed, but the question is whether they want to apply them, and that's the whole problem. Kosovo has claimed, in line with certain factors of the international community, that it can eliminate the European Union from those parts of the dialogue for which it is not interested in having a dialogue. They are now trying to reduce the matter to relations between two states, and they are trying to ignore and diminish everything beyond that. In doing so, they are being helped and supported by the EU, especially some of its members, and ultimately, this makes dialogue more difficult," Jeremic emphasizes.

Jeremic specifies that it is up to the European Union to understand and implement measures to protect the respect of the Brussels Agreement.

"For now, the EU is the sole mediator. The question is whether it understands and applies its measures or prerogatives as a mediator and the signed Brussels Agreement for which it guaranteed implementation. So, it's merely a matter of implementing what has been agreed upon, rather than constant attempts to undermine the spirit of the agreement through continuous circumvention," Jeremic concludes.