Savkovic: Kurti's aggressive politics alienates Serbs; dialogue has turned into "conflict management"

Senior advisor at the ISAK fund, Marko Savkovic, assesses that both Serbs and Albanians have lost trust in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina because there has been no progress in the process for a long time, which has turned into "conflict management." According to him, the Serbian community is additionally frustrated by the aggressive politics of Albin Kurti's government and the imposition of solutions.

"There have been no tangible results for a long time. Solutions are being imposed, primarily by Pristina, and then compromise solutions are sought as much as possible in Brussels, with some intervention by European negotiators. Citizens do not feel involved; they are quite far from the political process. And in recent years, with the change in policy, a more aggressive policy coming from Mr. Kurti's government, there seems to be less and less room for maneuver for representatives of the Serbian community, and even for Belgrade. When I say solutions are being imposed, I mean that this is what distances citizens from the dialogue process and creates doubt in its outcome, that the agreement will help them feel safer, be included, and lead to a solution that would satisfy Serbia's legitimate interests in Kosovo, as well as some aspirations of the Kosovo side," Savkovic said to Kosovo Online.

Based on UNDP research, slightly more than ten percent of Serbs and about 50 percent of Albanians and other communities believe that the Agreement on Normalization of Relations between Belgrade and Pristina could create better living conditions in Kosovo.

Savkovic says that the results are not surprising to him.

"Certainly, such low support among the Serbian community is not surprising. Perhaps it is a bit surprising that we have significant support exceeding 50 percent among representatives of the Albanian community. This is surprising if you consider the extent of resistance to the idea of the Community of Serb Municipalities, which has always been seen by Serbia as a central part of the Agreement," Savkovic said.

He adds that Kosovo has an additional problem because this research shows that citizens are constantly faced with the same problems.

"Other findings of this research, which is traditionally conducted every two years, actually show that the problems are always the same. It is poverty, the lack of economic perspective, and interestingly, to a lesser extent, at least when it comes to the majority Albanian community, it is fear for personal safety. That fear is much more pronounced, and this is again somewhat expected, among representatives of the Serbian community," Savkovic observed.

Commenting on the fact that only 25 percent of Serbs from Kosovo expressed trust in the dialogue process, this expert says that, although these results are not surprising, they indicate that this process can be called "conflict management" rather than dialogue.

"I would even say that 25 percent is a good result because the message that the dialogue is in crisis is constantly being sent. From the beginning, for years, the image has been that it is a difficult, painful process in which one side loses something, and the other side gains something. Somehow, as much as public attention is needed, it seems that a good relationship with the public has not been built. There is a lack of transparency. Now, there is always that call to give negotiators space to negotiate. But somehow, now it seems more like conflict management. This is an expression that can often be heard," Savkovic emphasized.

He sees the distrust of Serbs primarily in the fact that Pristina does nothing to build trust in relation to the Serbian community.

"Many opportunities have been missed for something like that. I think that distrust is great," Savkovic stressed.

The question is, he emphasizes, whether this will change because Albin Kurti will have a key role in the next government as well.

"This is a policy that does not leave much room for Serbs to participate in political life. They have a problem in their relationship with representatives of the Serb List, which has lost a lot in these processes we have had over the past year or so. But there is always the possibility for things to start anew. It depends on the goodwill of the negotiators, it depends on the broader context, which at this moment may not be so favorable. The only small hope, perhaps, but now it depends on which angle you look at it from, is to get a new president in the US who would be interested in initiating the process. However, I think that hope is quite small," Savkovic believes.

He adds that another solution, especially for the continuation of the process, could be the EU's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.

"Maybe this can create additional pressure, but unfortunately, I am not optimistic. At this moment, we do not have something to hold on to and say: 'Here, this is some reason for optimism,'" Savkovic concluded.