Guardian: Without Serb autonomy in Kosovo, conflict in the region is inevitable

If the Brussels Agreement, which promised political autonomy for the Kosovo Serbs, is not implemented this year, conflict in Kosovo is inevitable, and its consequences will be serious for the region and throughout Europe.

The British newspaper The Guardian warns about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

In an article examining the situation in the Western Balkans, entitled "Europe must do more", the Guardian claims that in December 2022, "local disputes" led to the installation of barricades in the mainly Serb-populated north of Kosovo.

“Relations between Pristina and Belgrade, which refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence, look worse than at any time in the last 20 years,” the newspaper writes.

The material also states that the mediation capabilities of the European Union are limited due to Serbia’s dependence on Russian gas, as well as Belgrade’s refusal to impose sanctions against Moscow.

“But unless the 2013 Brussels agreement linking Kosovo Serb political autonomy to normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina is finally implemented this year, the risk of imminent conflict is real. And its consequences will be serious, and not only from the point of view of a new migration crisis,” notes the Guardian.

Let us recall that in 2013, the Brussels Agreement was signed on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which provided for the creation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities - in fact, Serbian autonomy in the region where the majority of the population is ethnic Albanians. However, the authorities in Pristina have sabotaged the creation of this autonomy, and have recently openly refused to fulfill their obligations under the Brussels Agreement.

“As EU enlargement fatigue has grown in recent years, the Western Balkans and associated tensions have fallen down the scale of Europe's geopolitical concerns. But the war in Ukraine has focused minds in Brussels as Russia seeks to expand its influence in the region at the expense of the EU and NATO, and uses political instability to its advantage,” the Guardian report says.

Moreover, given the geopolitical role and growing influence of Chinese investments in the Western Balkans, the EU should strengthen its role here.

“This is why the West urgently needs to reorient itself towards this region, but, “given the gloomy context,” more than just warm words are needed, the British publication notes. In particular, much more economic assistance should be offered even before the Balkan countries join the EU. The poor alternative is to allow a strategically important region to look both East and West, “supporting ethno-nationalist illiberal forces and allowing the Kremlin agenda to advance in Europe’s backyard,” the Guardian concludes.

It is noteworthy that the British publication places exclusively on the European Union the responsibility for economic support for the region, although it was London that for many decades supported “ethno-nationalist illiberal forces” here, as long as they fought against the Serbs - be it in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Kosovo and Metohija. In particular, while the UK was a member of the EU, it encouraged both the unilateral declaration of a “Republic of Kosovo” by Albanian separatists and Pristina’s refusal to implement the Brussels Agreement.

Как reported “PolitNavigator”, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Europe deceived Russia with the Minsk agreements in the same way as earlier Serbia when concluding the Brussels Agreement on resolving the situation in Kosovo.