It took almost twelve hours, an idyllic resort, Lake Ohrid in North Macedonia and the presence of high-profile European and American Serbia And Kosovo to finally come to an agreement on how to normalize their relationship.

The agreement was announced shortly before midnight on Saturday by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, who “led” the meeting between the two sides. There were separate, hours-long meetings between the two leaders in the presence of both EU special representatives. for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, as well as his American colleague Gabriel Escobar.

“We finally have an agreement. We have an agreement on how it will be implemented,” Josep Borel emphasized in his statements, immediately after the completion of the negotiations, meaning that there was an agreement on how to implement the European proposal, on the course of normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina. The proposal, consisting of 11 articles, was formally presented on 27 February in Brussels and was initially accepted by both parties.

Why now;

The European proposal was presented to both parties for the first time last autumn, following a corresponding initiative by Germany and France. Alarmed by the ongoing tensions between Serbia and Kosovo throughout the past year, the two countries have decided to close a serious backlog that has been a source of tension and instability for the Balkan region since 2008 and Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence.

The ongoing war in Ukraine has left European capitals, but also Washington, with little opportunity to monitor and “turn off” every three or so ongoing hotspots, mostly in northern Kosovo, due to the Albin Kurti government’s attempt to tie it to the state trunk.

Yesterday’s statement by the EU High Representative “refers not only to Serbia and Kosovo,” he said. “The dialogue (ss on the normalization of relations) should be viewed in a broader geopolitical context, as an important tool for maintaining peace and stability in the wider region of the Western Balkans,” added Josep Borel pointedly.

The EU quickly engaged both sides in this new dialogue, in which they are called upon to resolve various issues that remained unresolved within the framework agreed under its auspices in 2013 (when the “Brussels Agreement” was signed), before also Spain joins the the presidency of the EU. Spain is one of the five EU member states, as well as Greece, that have not recognized Kosovo and, in fact, still maintain the “hardest attitude” towards this prospect.

Problem areas

However, the fact that yesterday’s agreement – essentially an annex to the implementation of the European proposal of February last year – does not have the signature of the two parties is problematic.

Josep Borel said the text was toned down from a more ambitious version that did not accept Kosovo while Serbia refused to sign the deal despite its president Aleksandar Vucic saying he was ready to implement it.

To the question “K” how the agreement can be legally binding without the signatures of the two leaders, the representative of the Commission, Peter Stano, emphasized that “The Annex and the Agreement are considered adopted on the basis of a published statement (v. Borel)”. Therefore, he explained that, despite the fact that they did not sign, the parties nevertheless agreed on the content of the annex and its implementation. Mr. Stano also stated that both parties should now start fulfilling their obligations as this agreement will become part of their accession process and their progress will be judged based on the implementation of the annex.

For his part, Josep Borel said yesterday that “there will be consequences” for their accession process if both sides deviate from their commitments.

EU candidate country status for Kosovo?

However, this means that the EU will have to grant the status of a candidate country and Kosovo, which is not entirely clear, since legally it will be quite difficult (no, but also impossible) without recognizing its five member states. For example, there may be an appropriate political decision. But this is a point that needs to be clarified. It is worth noting that Kosovo filed a corresponding request only in December last year.

However, the Serbian President, immediately after his return to Belgrade, declared that not only would he not sign any international agreement “with the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo”, but above all, he would never accept its membership in the United Nations. like it’s “red line”. But it is also the most important, existential goal of Kosovo.

The problem caused by the non-signing of yesterday’s agreement is already evident.

For his part, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti spoke of a “social contract”, adding that the EU must find a mechanism to make the agreement legally binding.

For Kosovo, the “sick” issue was the creation of the Union of Serbian municipalities (in Kosovo). Albin Kurti promised to act immediately in this regard, as this is a key demand of the Kosovo Serbs. Vučić himself has even stated that if it is indeed implemented, Kosovo Serbs will return to the institutions of Kosovo from which they withdrew in recent months.

An interesting aspect of yesterday’s agreement is the EU’s intention to convene a donors’ conference in 2023 to raise funds for Kosovo and Serbia, which will not be transferred to them until the full implementation of yesterday’s agreement.

The amount, of course, remains unclear, since it will be the result of a donors’ conference, just as the fate of the next European agreement on the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo remains unclear and “muddy”.