Mitrovic: It is not certain that there will be progress in the dialogue even in the upcoming rounds announced by Lajcak

Sava Mitrovic, a researcher at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, says that the only positive news from yesterday’s round of dialogue in Brussels is that there was a direct meeting between chief negotiators Petar Petkovic and Besnik Bislimi, which was different from the September round, where negotiators from both sides only met with mediator Miroslav Lajcak, and that no substantial progress was made yesterday.

Mitrovic believes that yesterday’s joint meeting was important for Lajcak, as it demonstrated that the dialogue is not dead and that, as a mediator, he can still facilitate direct meetings between representatives of Belgrade and Pristina.

“It is uncertain that anything will be achieved in the coming months when the remaining rounds of dialogue are scheduled,” Mitrovic said.

The reasons for this, he noted, are a series of unconstructive moves by Pristina in recent months, which make it difficult for any progress in the dialogue or the implementation of signed agreements.

“One of the internal political factors could be the parliamentary elections coming up in Kosovo, during which nationalist rhetoric usually intensifies, further complicating the chances for dialogue,” he explained.

He says that if one looks at the regular report prepared by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, it is clear that not only is the situation in Kosovo unstable, but it is also on the verge of escalation.

“At this moment, Pristina bears the greatest responsibility for this, primarily due to unilateral actions such as banning the Serbian dinar, closing institutions funded by Belgrade, and prohibiting the import of Serbian goods, which has been somewhat relaxed but is still essentially in place,” Mitrovic said.