Milic: Without great pressure, neither side has an interest in implementing the most controversial points of the agreement

The anniversary of reaching the Agreement on the path to normalization between Kosovo and Serbia was greeted with almost no results in the implementation of what was agreed upon, and political analyst Dimitrije Milic from the New Third Way suggests that this raises questions about the credibility of the European Union regarding whether it can be a guarantor of certain agreements if they remain dead letters, that is, if both sides have certain skepticism toward the agreement and are unwilling to implement it.

"For the implementation of the agreement, objectively, neither side has an interest except in certain points. Neither side has an interest in implementing the most controversial points unless they are under significant Western pressure," Milic says.

He points out that the EU has the ability to pressure the parties by incorporating the points from the agreement into the negotiating framework, thereby largely conditioning the European path of each side on those points.

"That tool exists, and I believe it will eventually happen and be incorporated. It is currently more significant for the Kosovo side, which is in an earlier stage of European integration and has much greater ambitions to legitimize itself as an independent actor through European integration than it is for Serbia at this stage," Milic notes.

Asked how such measures would motivate Belgrade and Pristina to implement the agreement, our interlocutor says they would definitely enhance motivation.

"When something is formalized, it stands as a precondition. Otherwise, it hangs in the air and depends on the will of Western countries to press for implementation. Without Western pressure, I assume only further escalation is possible," Milic concludes.