Weber: If no agreement is reached on the CSM - the Franco-German plan collapses

Political analyst from Berlin, Bodo Weber, says that yesterday's agreement in Brussels shows that nothing can be achieved without a final agreement and that there are clear disagreements between Kosovo and Serbia regarding the CSM, Gazeta Express reports.

"If you compare last night's statements by the negotiators in Brussels, it is confusing what was agreed or not agreed yesterday. I think the only way to understand the slogan is "Nothing is accomplished until everything is agreed upon," Weber said.

Weber says that there are clear disagreements between Kosovo and Serbia about the CSM and not only about the deadlines for its establishment, and he is not optimistic that an agreement will be reached in March.

"It is clear that the misunderstanding between Pristina and Belgrade regarding the CSM has not been resolved, not only the date of formation. This means that yesterday's agreement was only transferred to negotiations on the implementation annex so that some kind of progress could be announced. There is no information that could predict that Vucic and Kurti could agree on the CSM at the next meeting planned for March in North Macedonia," Weber added.

Asked if he thought there was a risk that the Franco-German initiative would completely collapse and if what had happened yesterday had been Kurti's tactics, Weber says he does not know what Kurti's tactics are, but he makes it clear that if there is no agreement on the CSM then there is no final agreement.

"Honestly, I don't know what the negotiating tactics of Prime Minister Albin Kurti are. But if there is no agreement on the CSM, there will be no agreement on the implementation annex either, so there will be no agreement, regardless of what was declared last night," Weber emphasized.

He also criticized the international community, saying they had never made it clear that they were against the executive powers of the CSM, while Vucic had not indicated whether he was ready to drop the demand for a CSM with executive powers.

"And it's not just about giving up Albin Kurti's position on the CSM. The US and the EU, after a decade of avoiding a position on Community powers, did not position themselves against it and therefore against the position of Belgrade. So far, we have not heard any reaction from President Vucic to this development of events, so it remains completely unclear whether Vucic is ready to withdraw from this essential position of Belgrade," Weber concluded.