Milivojevic: Kosovo is still in the status it was in according to Resolution 1244

Former diplomat Zoran Milivojevic evaluates that no commitments have been made regarding status issues and that Kosovo is still in the status it was in according to Resolution 1244, Blic writes.

Milivojevic points out that there are no changes in the international legal sense.

"Kosovo is still in the status it was in according to Resolution 1244. Probably the other side insisted on status issues, which is why the talks lasted 12 hours. However, there are no changes in the international legal sense. Serbia only accepted that the plan be the basis for further talks, and only points that were not in dispute were discussed there. It is the beginning of real negotiations on the normalization of relations," Milivojevic analyzes.

On the other hand, the president of the Center for Regionalism, Aleksandar Popov, recalls that the American and European Special Envoys, Gabriel Escobar and Miroslav Lajcak, said before the Ohrid meeting that there would be no signing of the document.

"Formally, in our public, the signing of the agreement would be perceived as the signing of capitulation, which would probably lead to even fiercer protests organized by right-wing parties. Also, if Vucic had signed something after saying he wouldn't do it, he would be in big trouble. However, this does not mean that he did not undertake to fulfill what was agreed on in Ohrid", Popov asserts.

Milivojevic believes that the CSM is important because of the Serbian people's position in Kosovo.

"The Community is critical to the Serbian people's position in Kosovo. Also, with the implementation, Serbia's position will be strengthened, while the sovereignty of the central or Pristina authorities in northern Kosovo will be reduced, so we will no longer have incursions by the Kosovo police as before. It is very important for Serbia to form the CSM on the basis of the already signed agreements from 2013 and 2015," Milivojevic explains.

Popov, on the other hand, believes that the CSM is significant primarily in a symbolic sense.

"A lot also depends on which model of the CSM will be formed. Lajcak proposed some 15 models. If it is an ordinary conference of cities like the one in central Serbia, then it is nothing more than a non-governmental organization. It will be a different story if it has greater and even executive powers. This will, first of all, mean a lot to the Serbs in northern Kosovo, because the Serbs south of the Ibar are already integrated," Popov indicates.