Surlic: The outcome of the dialogue in Brussels was expected; Kurti's Government left no room for compromise

Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Stefan Surlic, said that the outcome of the new round of dialogue in Brussels, which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said ended unsuccessfully due to the refusal of the Pristina side to accept the EU's compromise proposal, had been expected, taking into account, as he stated, that the Kosovo Government had recently radicalized the atmosphere with nationalist rhetoric and specific discriminatory moves in the north of Kosovo.

"The Government in Pristina left no room for compromise; it is illusory to say that there is a readiness to form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. At this moment, it is about buying time. It seems as if there is hurry, but fundamentally, the Government in Pristina is not even interested in the return of the Serbs to institutions," Surlic said.

As he added, what would happen in the future depended solely on international actors.

"If they condition Albin Kurti and they make some move that will really mean sanctions, we can expect a change, as was the case in the earlier period, that there will be some 'blitz' meeting and agreement at the last moment. But at this moment it is really unthinkable that there will be a return of the Serbs to the institutions because Pristina insists on removing the mayors with a petition. On the other hand, the Serbs consider the petition humiliating, that in addition to all the activities that include arrests, beatings, expropriation of land for the construction of bases, and everything else that they faced in the previous months, that now they should return to the institutions, which were not effective and were not respected even by Pristina," Surlic added.

When asked whether the EU had the power to force Kurti to finally take steps towards de-escalation with increased measures, Surlic stated that Brussels could additionally deny Kosovo funds from the Union funds, or temporarily freeze them and reduce diplomatic contacts with representatives of Pristina to a minimum.

"And of course, the measure that was already mentioned, postponing the decision on visa liberalization, would also be a clear message to the Government in Prishtina that it is not on the right track. I am only afraid of a possible scenario where the Serbian side could completely compromise, accepting all conditions including a petition, returning the Serbs to institutions, without fundamentally changing anything on the ground," Surlic concluded.