Ljajic: Complete debacle of the international community in Kosovo

The international community had experienced a complete debacle in Kosovo because 24 years after the end of the war, there was more talk about the possibility of a new conflict than about the solution to the Kosovo problem and Serbian-Albanian relations, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS) Rasim Ljajic said in an interview for Politika.

Asked if he was an optimist regarding the resolution of the Kosovo issue, and whether the sanctions imposed by the West on Kurti would lead to de-escalation, Ljajic replied that it was exactly the opposite, from the very beginning he was a complete pessimist or rather a realist on the matter.

"After the Franco-German plan, while everyone was optimistic that things were moving towards a solution, I argued that nothing would come of it and that the plan would suffer the fate of many similar projects. First of all, the positions of the two sides are diametrically opposed. Second, Kurti believes that he should get everything and give nothing in return, which is an impossible outcome of any negotiations. Thirdly, perhaps crucially, the international mediators got into a situation that is like squeezing water from a stone, and apart from optimistic statements that the problem will be solved by the end of the year, they did nothing else," Ljajic said.

Asked if he expected (international mediators) to do something, he noted that one could only see their haste to somehow solve the problem, or at least it seemed to be solved, before the May elections for the European Parliament and the November presidential elections in the USA in 2024.

"This is a complete debacle of the international community, that 24 years after the end of the war we are talking more about the possibility of a new conflict than about the solution of the Kosovo problem and Serbian-Albanian relations. The negotiations were constantly conducted under the auspices of the international community and, logically, it bears a good part of the responsibility for such a scenario. If the Serbs and the Albanians could have come to an agreement, the conflict would not have occurred," Ljajic said.

He also states that Albin Kurti believes that time works for him and that he does not have to make any compromises, and in fact, time is not an ally of either Belgrade or Pristina.

"Because in the permanently tense atmosphere, there will be fewer and fewer Serbs in Kosovo, and at the same time, Kosovo will remain isolated, outside of all integration flows," Ljajic stated.