Surlic: Kurti wants to avoid the Ohrid annex because it obligates him to establish the CSM

Stefan Surlic, an associate professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, assesses that the Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, wants to avoid the agreement from Ohrid because the Ohrid annex clarifies the main priority in the implementation of the entire normalization process between Belgrade and Pristina, which is the Community of Serb Municipalities, or self-governance for Serbs in the form of broad autonomy.

"This is something that is demanded from Pristina, and all European officials and mediators emphasize that this is the starting point. The government of Albin Kurti deliberately avoids the Ohrid annex and only talks about the February agreement in Brussels, calling it fundamental because they believe that Belgrade should be the one making the first concessions, not the institutions of Pristina. This is actually a tactic that is conveyed in the messages being sent, and that is that they will not accept the CSM, that they will buy time, and they expect Belgrade to be the one to achieve and fulfill everything outlined in that, as he calls it, basic plan," Surlic says for Kosovo Online.

He adds that international actors have been relatively understanding of Kurti's government so far.

"These sanctions were, in fact, just some restrictive measures. We will see in the coming period; the messages are very sharp and specific. After this latest meeting in Brussels, all European officials stated that they expect Pristina to establish the CSM and that they anticipate the first steps in that direction very shortly, already at the beginning of next year. Of course, a precondition for that is the existence of legitimate authority in northern Kosovo, Serbs returning to institutions, and organizing elections. This is something on which international actors will insist if they have any faith and desire for any normalization of relations and to prevent recurring conflict situations on the ground," Surlic emphasizes.