Mijacic: I don’t believe a trilateral meeting in Brussels will happen, and if it does, an agreement is unlikely

The Coordinator of the Working Group for Chapter 35 of the National Convention on the EU, Dragisa Mijacic, told Kosovo Online that the round of dialogue scheduled for December 17 will be more of a formal meeting and that it is unrealistic to expect any progress, especially as Kosovo is currently in the midst of an election campaign.

“We can view the December 17 meeting as a regular event for this time of year. Usually, before the Christmas break, there is some sort of meeting between representatives of Belgrade and Pristina, during which all long-standing issues are reviewed. I’m not sure we can expect any progress, and I don’t even believe a trilateral meeting will take place. If it does, I doubt any agreement can be reached,” said Mijacic.

Regarding the agenda, he stated that the sequential plan — specifically the implementation plan of the Brussels-Ohrid Agreement, which has been a topic since the agreement was adopted — will likely be discussed.

“The question is whether this will be the last meeting organized by Lajcak, now that Kaja Kallas has taken over as the High Representative for Foreign Policy. This raises the question of whether Lajcak will retain his position or likely step down. If he does leave, probably in January or February, this could be one of the last, if not the final, meetings organized by Miroslav Lajcak,” Mijacic noted.

When asked whether Belgrade and Pristina have differing views on what should be implemented first from the Brussels-Ohrid Agreement, Mijacic pointed out that the problem lies in the fact that Lajcak and the EU have not defined clear implementation steps.

“They should not have left that constructive ambiguity for both sides to accuse each other over what comes first and what comes next. It is expected that the first step would be to send the draft statute for the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) for approval by the Kosovo government and review by the Constitutional Court. However, the Kosovo government refuses to do this. On the other hand, the Kosovo government has set three of its own conditions. They always introduce new conditions when negotiations occur. Given that we are now in the middle of an election campaign, I truly don’t believe Kurti will withdraw his proposal or accept further implementation of the Ohrid Agreement or work on the sequential plan during this period,” Mijacic assessed.

In such circumstances, he added, the question arises of how to maintain peace until the Kosovo elections.

“There will likely be many challenges and unilateral actions. The European Union has shown that it is incapable of preventing this kind of escalation. What remains is hope that no provocations will occur and that this pre-election period and electoral cycle will conclude as smoothly as possible and without incidents,” he concluded.