Weber: Dialogue to continue before Angela Merkel's departure

German political analyst and member of the Council for Democratization Policy, Bodo Weber, said in an interview with Gazeta Express that he expected the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia to continue, due to the establishment of a new administration in the United States, which will be headed by Joe Biden.

Weber said that he did not know whether the final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia would be reached by the end of the year and pointed out that it was not important to set a deadline, but to reach a fair agreement, after three and a half years of misguided negotiations, which damaged the reputation of the EU and the USA in Kosovo, Serbia and beyond.

"To move towards the continuation of the negotiations, towards the real finale, for a comprehensive agreement, which will guarantee a sustainable solution", said Weber, expressing the hope that the negotiations will continue in the first part of this year.

He emphasized that he is looking forward to the rapid reconstruction of transatlantic cooperation between the EU and the USA, starting from the Washington-Berlin line and including all other key factors. 

He added that the dialogue should continue in the first part of 2021, because German Chancellor Angela Merkel is leaving at the end of this year.

"Political dialogue must begin with clear messages from President Biden and Chancellor Merkel, about the key principles without which there can be no negotiations, all parties must agree on one thing: there are no borders in the Balkans and Kosovo once and for all, that Serbia must return to 2013 and to accept the reality in Kosovo and accordingly adjust its policy towards the necessary final agreement.

Asked if it would be better if the Biden administration had Trump's special envoy for the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, Weber said the Trump administration had two envoys, with little or no cooperation.

"For me, the most important thing is for the US and the EU to be on the same side, to send a strong message that will allow the continuation of negotiations in Brussels, with Washington in the same room or in the next room, as was the case in the beginning when the political dialogue gave the initial, historical progress," Weber said.

He assessed that the continuation of the dialogue does not depend on the outcome of the upcoming extraordinary elections in Kosovo. In his opinion, the continuation of negotiations can be prevented if the parties do not agree on the election of the Kosovo president after the elections.

"The most serious threat to the negotiations is what I feared when the 'new phase' of dialogue with the 'chaos of the parties' began in 2017. Prishtina did not act as a single entity in the negotiations due to divisions and inter-party antagonisms. I am afraid that this chaos has worsened even more during the last three years, while the internal politics, but also the performance in the dialogue of political leaders in Kosovo, especially in 2020, unfortunately showed that the political system in Kosovo is deeply broken. I hope that after the parliamentary elections, the parties will reach an agreement and the new president will be appointed with a majority," said Weber.

He emphasized that this year Kosovo will achieve progress in unity for negotiations with Serbia and in starting the adjustment of the political system.

"A real continuation of negotiations, based on clear principles and close transatlantic cooperation, should help on both issues," Weber said.