Klacar: Elections in Serbia will impact Belgrade-Pristina dialogue but not endanger it

Bojan Klacar, the Executive Director of CeSID, stated for Kosovo Online that the upcoming parliamentary elections in Serbia in December would certainly affect the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. However, he doesn't expect these elections to in any way endanger the dialogue.

"Elections will certainly impact the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina because they will change the internal dynamics in Serbia, and priorities will shift. Ultimately, the state leadership will focus on different matters. However, I don't anticipate that the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue will be endangered in any way," Klacar says.

He points out two reasons for this expectation.

"First, it's a geopolitically significant and major issue driven by domestic political considerations that are highly important to Serbia. No one in Serbia will want to prolong this, and second, there's a somewhat narrower maneuvering space for the state of Serbia following recent events in Kosovo. I'm not sure that our state leadership would, in any way, risk jeopardizing the process, especially in a slightly altered and arguably less favorable environment for Serbia," Klacar believes.

He emphasizes that Kosovo will be one of the three main topics in the election campaign.

"The Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, or Kosovo, will be one of the most important subjects in the campaign. It will definitely be in the top three for two reasons: first, due to its contextual nature, the dialogue is alive and ongoing, and it's an important issue for Serbian national and foreign policy interests. Kosovo has been one of the top three priorities for people since the beginning of this year, along with the economy, inflation, and rising prices," Klacar explains.

He points out that politicians focus on topics that interest the electorate, and Kosovo is one of them.

"As soon as something becomes a priority for people or voters, politicians have to keep that issue in the public eye. I'm not sure that in different circumstances, this would be the first choice for politicians. In Serbia, politicians, no matter how much it's discussed, are generally not so eager to open up such a sensitive, significant, and emotionally charged topic. However, in this context, this issue cannot be avoided in the public sphere," Klacar concludes.