Rajic: I don't expect a harsher tone from Western countries toward Pristina at the UNSC session

Predrag Rajic from the Center for Social Stability tells Kosovo Online that he absolutely doesn't expect Western countries at tonight's emergency session of the UN Security Council dedicated to the current situation in Kosovo to be more critical and harsher toward Pristina compared to the positions they usually express at regular Security Council sessions when considering the six-month report on the situation in Kosovo.

"I think Western states will continue to adhere to their previous stance and continue in that direction. There will probably be certain criticisms of Kurti through other channels, as there have been, but they are mostly verbal criticisms, there are no concrete actions or sanctions," Rajic says.

Despite slightly sharper rhetoric toward Pristina in recent days regarding the implementation of the decision to abolish the dinar, Rajic says that the Security Council member states that have recognized Kosovo will not say at the session in New York that they advocate for the dinar to remain in Kosovo.

"They may say they advocate for, for example, a longer transitional period so that the Serbian community can adapt to the new circumstances because they do not question the introduction of new circumstances but the method of introducing those circumstances – whether abruptly or gradually, and to what extent gradually. However, they won't say now: nevertheless, the Serbian community has the right to use the dinar because Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia; certainly not because the three permanent members of the UN Security Council from the Western bloc took a stance in 2008 that has not changed even though the government has changed several times in their capitals, but the stance toward the recognition of the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo has not changed," Rajic notes.

A joint statement from the Security Council members after tonight's session, Rajic says, is unlikely.

"If there is one, it will be abstract or general in nature, in the sense that everyone advocates for peace and fully supports negotiations, but it is difficult for me to expect that they will take a stance criticizing Kurti and Pristina for abolishing the dinar, more mildly or more harshly, especially in a statement that Russia will also sign, with which they are in deep conflict," Rajic says.

He adds that it seems to him that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is so fanatical that he would still be steadfast in his actions even if he were seriously sanctioned.

"What he has faced in the last year are definitely not measures that would convince a person of his profile to start thinking and behaving differently. I don't think he even knows how. He is extremely rigid and doesn't even know how to think outside the framework he has set for himself and imposed even as a standard among Kosovo Albanians," Rajic says.