Surlic: The Agreement on the Path of Normalization suffers the fate of agreements never implemented on the ground

The Agreement on the Path of Normalization between Kosovo and Serbia was reached a year ago in Brussels, and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Stefan Surlic, fears that this document is experiencing the fate of agreements never implemented on the ground, considering that only certain items have been partially implemented from it.

"On the ground, only certain items related to the use of documents and license plates have been partially implemented, but there has been no implementation of the substantive items of this agreement, as well as the Ohrid Annex, and this places these documents in line with the previous Brussels Agreement and other agreements between Belgrade and Pristina for which there is no political will to be truly implemented in practice. I am particularly concerned about the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. I fear that this document is experiencing the same fate as agreements never implemented on the ground," Surlic told Kosovo Online.

As he adds, after a year, it is evident that this document was presented as an agreement under clear international pressure. The idea, he says, was that the situation on the ground would significantly change, and there would be a minimal level of trust between the two sides, which would make it easier for political leaders and negotiators in Belgrade and Pristina to implement even some painful points to which Belgrade committed.

"However, the situation is entirely different. We see that there is a race against time, and what happens by April will be the benchmark for whether this agreement has been implemented or not. After that, we have elections for the European Parliament and elections in the USA, and I do not believe that at that stage there will be any pressure for Belgrade and Pristina to make concessions for the sake of some final agreement. Second, it is important to bear in mind that the only concrete outcome of this agreement and the Ohrid Annex will be insisting that their provisions be included in Chapter 35 and changing the negotiation framework for Serbia, thereby binding a new administration in Brussels to pressure Belgrade and demand implementation of that agreement. This is the only thing that is now seen as a concrete outcome, and it is expected that Germany and other leading EU countries will insist on it. However, when it comes to changing the situation on the ground, Belgrade and Pristina have not come any closer, and the position of the Serbs in Kosovo is becoming increasingly difficult," Surlic points out.

Through Chapter 35, he emphasizes, that the agreement will be binding for Belgrade if it remains firmly on the path to EU accession, while Kosovo does not have the practical ability to be conditioned on its European path simply because it is not recognized by five EU members.

"There will be other channels of influence on Pristina, but it is evident that they have not been functional so far. So, the CSM is once again waiting for some new political moment to be implemented and to unlock an already long-standing deadlock in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina," Surlic concludes.