Marinkovic: It is important to avoid frozen conflict; CSM is the key to the survival of Serbs in Kosovo

The founder of the Serbian-American Friendship Congress, Vladimir Marinkovic, says that it is important for Belgrade to avoid a frozen conflict and that he hopes that the European partners will now insist more strongly on the formation of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, which, he adds, is the key to the survival of Serbs in Kosovo.

Marinkovic says for Kosovo Online that it is important that the meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Ohrid, under the auspices of the EU, took place in a good and decent atmosphere.

"It is important for us to avoid a frozen conflict, and that is what President Vucic was talking about – that we insist on and support the normalization of relations, which means that we continue to advocate for the creation of an environment where we will have a free flow of people, goods and capital, exchange opinions, visit each other. It will be a kind of process and path to a final political solution that cannot be in the medium term, but in the long term, and which would ensure long-term stability," Marinkovic said.

The most important thing for Belgrade and the biggest result of those talks, Marinkovic believes, is the fact that it is necessary to avoid the "Palestinization of Kosovo and the Palestinianization of the position of the Serbs south of the Ibar and northern Kosovo and Metohija."

"We must insist on the implementation of the Brussels Agreement, the Washington Agreement, and all those international agreements and contracts that are necessary so that the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija can be primarily safe so that they can live, work, and function normally in the conditions that are immanent in the 21st century, civilizational achievements, and ultimately, as the political West says, European values," Marinkovic said.

Marinkovic says that Belgrade expects Pristina to implement everything agreed upon, although he is skeptical.

He adds that it has been shown that whatever it commits to, which should contribute to the survival of Serbs in Kosovo, Pristina absolutely does not want to do it.

"In the past few years, when he was the prime minister of the temporary institutions, Albin Kurti openly insisted on solutions aimed at expelling the Serbs and that there are no Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. Their platitudes about a multi-ethnic society fall flat, but we hope that our European partners have also noticed this and will insist that this time they will be more strict and insist that what was agreed be implemented," he points out.

As he adds, he is primarily referring to the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, which he says is the key to the survival of Serbs in Kosovo and through which the state of Serbia can finance Serbs, carry out projects, and guarantee their survival.

"That is the most important thing for a long-term solution to the problems in Kosovo and Metohija and everything that happened during the nineties. Serbia and President Vucic have a very constructive role, and we have shown that we are interested in investments and for a better life for both Serbs and Albanians," Marinkovic says, and also adds that Serbia has shown this through the example of what is happening in our country – the president announced four billion foreign direct investments this year alone.

He believes that cooperation between Serbs and Albanians, if there is any constructiveness on the other side, can contribute significantly to the better position of both Serbs and Albanians, but also to the better position and development of the entire Balkans.