Rrecaj: The parties accuse each other of not fulfilling the Brussels Agreement

Professor at the Department of International Law at the University of Pristina, Besfort Rrecaj, stated on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina that the parties today continued to "pass the ball" to each other for everything that had not been fulfilled.

"We are talking about a situation that is, in a way, a lost path in the process; social changes depend on political elites in Kosovo as well as political changes in Serbia," Rrecaj emphasized.

The fact that the parties are "passing the ball to the other side," according to Recaj, has a spiral effect because it affects trust among dialogue participants.

"Because if we do not have fulfilled previously undertaken obligations, how can we agree and trust each other for new agreements? So I think that participants in the dialogue are somewhat spinning in circles without a clear path of how to get out of this situation," Rrecaj added.

In that context, he says, the public is confused about both the new Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex.

"That is why we are very confused when it comes to the Brussels Agreement and the Ohrid Annex, not about what obligations were agreed upon but about the way in which dialogue participants promised to fulfill the undertaken obligations and conditions that are part of the verbal agreement. Both sides were asked to sign the agreement; one side said 'we accept the agreement but do not want to sign it', while the other side said 'if there is no signature, then that agreement has no legitimacy', and that created confusion in the process," Rrecaj concluded.