Rapajic: EU is trying to maintain a positive image of the dialogue

Program Director of the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture Aleksandar Rapajic said that the European Union is a bureaucracy that tries to present even the smallest possible result as a major success, and that this has been happening in Kosovo for years when it comes to the Serbian community.

Rapajic told Kosovo Online, commenting on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s statement that she sees positive steps by Kosovo in its relations with the Serbian community, citing the agreement on missing and kidnapped persons as an example, that there has been no progress on the ground.

According to him, the agreement on missing persons is presented as a major success, even though Serbs in Kosovo are facing many problems.

“The situation is far from good and far from showing any progress, while the European Union finds some small process, I cannot say it is insignificant, but compared with other problems it is much less important at this moment, and then presents it as a huge success. The same applies to the agreement on missing persons, which is indeed very important, but alongside all the other problems that Serbs in Kosovo are currently facing, it is not that important to the Serbian people in Kosovo, yet it is being presented as a huge success, when in fact it is only a renewed agreement that had already been reached earlier,” Rapajic said.

As he said, in this way the European Union is trying to maintain a positive image of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

“We are aware that since Self-Determination came to power, there has been absolutely nothing from the dialogue. We can only speculate about what is being said behind closed doors, but I believe, or at least hope, that there is some pressure from the European Union on the government in Pristina, although the results rather strongly prove us wrong,” Rapajic said.