Attila Nagy
Jena Centre for Reconciliation Studies, Jena, Germany
The implementation of both The Brussels and Washington Agreements is coming as a challenge for the respective Serbian and Kosovo governments, but for the EU as well. The very complex legal and administrative solutions are posing a threat regarding the time dimension of their application, where such core agreed elements as the Association/Community of Serbian municipalities have still not been formed. Also, the comparative environment of applying such measures is challenging in the environment of the Western Balkan countries and their potential EU path. Additionally, the agreements are posing another challenge as their application would not be welcome in such a form like in Kosovo regarding their conflict resolution capacity elsewhere. Overall, the agreed constructions and their limitation only to Kosovo will break this line and through various means find a way to other post-conflict communities, ignoring both the EU and USA enforcement mechanism or their shortcomings here or elsewhere. The only partial implementation of the Brussels Agreement is challenging the EU authority in Kosovo and the wider region. Additionally, the broad and somehow unclear requirements of the Washington Agreement are challenging the future role and interest of USA in Kosovo and wider, in this case not just locally or regionally but globally.
Keywords: Brussels Agreement, Washington Agreement, Serbia-Kosovo relationship, post-conflict development, Open Balkan initiative.
| Bjeloš, M., Elek, B. (2020). Kosovo – what do citizens know, think and feel? Belgrade: Belgrade Centre for Security Policy. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep28726 (9.9.2021) |
| Brussels Agreement (2013). Republic of Kosovo Law No. 04/L-199 on ratification of the First International Agreement of Principles Governing the Normalization of Relations between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. Available at: https://gzk.rks-gov.net/ActDocumentDetail.aspx?ActID=11205 and https://www.srbija.gov.rs/cinjenice/en/120394 (9.9.2021) |
| Washington Agreement (2020). Republic of Kosovo, Implementation Plan of the Washington Agreements: Economic Normalisation Between Kosovo and Serbia. Available at: https://kryeministri-ks.net/…/Implementation-Plan… (9.9.2021) |
| Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo (2008). Act number: K-09042008. Available at: https://kryeministri.rks-gov.net/…/Constitution%201%20Kosovo.pdf (9.9.2021) |
| Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (2006). Official Gazette of the RS no. 98/2006. Available at: http://www.parlament.gov.rs/…/Constitution_of_Serbia_pdf.pdf (9.9.2021) |
| Council of Europe (1985). European Charter of Local Self-Government. European Treaty Series – No. 122. Available at: https://rm.coe.int/168007a088 (9.9.2021) |
| KSC-BC-2020-06. Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), Specialist Prosecutors Office. ANNEX 3 to Submission of corrected and public redacted versions of confirmed Indictment and related requests. Available at: https://repository.scp-ks.org/…doc_id=091ec6e98037f115 (9.9.2021) |
| The Prosecutor v. Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj (KSC-BC-2020-07). Available at: https://repository.scp-ks.org/…doc_id=091ec6e9809f5b72 (9.9.2021) |
| Bergmann, J. (2017). Same Table, Different Menus? A Comparison of UN and EU Mediation Practice in the Kosovo-Serbia Conflict. International Negotiation, 23, pp. 238–257. DOI: 10.1163/15718069-23021156 |
| Bieber, F. (2015). The Serbia-Kosovo Agreements: An EU Success Story? Review of Central and East European Law, 40, pp. 285–319. DOI: 10.1163/15730352-04003008 |
| Bjeloš, M., Elek, B., Raifi, F. (2014). Police Integration in North Kosovo: Progress and Remaining Challenges in Implementation of the Brussels Agreement. Belgrade & Prishtina: Kosovar Center for Security Studies; Belgrade Centre for Security Policy. |
| Conley, H., Saric, D. (2021). The Serbia-Kosovo Normalization Process: A Temporary U.S. Decoupling. Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 2021, pp. 1–13. |
| Deimel, J. (2020). In digestion mode: Tirana, Skopje and Pristina after the EU Council’s No-vote on opening EU accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. In: Deimel, J., Weicher, M. (eds.), Forward or Backward: The EU, Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo at Crossroad. München: Southeast Europe Association, pp. 6–19. |
| Doli, D. (2019). The International Element, Statehood and Democratic Nation-building. Cham: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-05995-8 |
| Economides, S., Ker-Lindsay, J. (2010). Forging EU Foreign Policy Unity from Diversity: The Unique Case of the Kosovo Status Talks. European Foreign Affairs Review, 15, pp. 495–510. DOI: 10.54648/EERR2010036 |
| Ejdus, F. (2020). Crisis and Ontological Insecurity: Serbia’s Anxiety over Kosovo’s Secession. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-20667-3 |
| Elsuwege, P. (2017). Legal Creativity in EU External Relations: The Stabilization and Association Agreement Between the EU and Kosovo. European Foreign Affairs Review, 22(3), pp. 393–410. DOI: 10.54648/EERR2017032 |
| Hamilton, A., Šapić, J. (2013). Dialogue-induced Developments on the Ground: Analysis on implementation of the EU-facilitated agreements on freedom of movement and trade between Kosovo and Serbia. Group for Legal and Political Studies & Institute for Territorial Economic Development, May 2013, pp. 1–19. |
| Jovanović, M. (2020). Is Kosovo and Metohija Indeed a ‘Unique Case? In: Summers, J. (ed.), Kosovo: A Precedent? Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, pp. 345–374. |
| Ker-Lindsay, J. (2011). Between Pragmatism and Constitutionalism: EU-Russian Dynamics and Differences during the Kosovo Status Process. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 7(2), pp. 175–194. DOI: 10.30950/jcer.v7i2.336 |
| Ker-Lindsay, J. (2020). The United Kingdom: Kosovo’s Strongest Supporter in Europe. In: Armakolas, I., Ker-Lindsay, J. (eds.), The Politics of Recognition and Engagement: EU Member State Relations with Kosovo. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 41–60. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-17945-8_3 |
| Martino, F. (2014). Kosovo: Beyond The Brussels Agreement. ISPI, Analysis No. 254, May 2014, pp. 1–10. |
| Mehmeti, L. (2016). Perspectives of the Normalization of Relations between Kosovo and Serbia. In: Mehmeti, L., Radeljić, B. (eds.), Kosovo and Serbia: Contested Options and Shared Consequences. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 216–242. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt1qv5n21.17 |
| Perritt, H. (2010). The Road to Independence for Kosovo: A Chronicle of the Ahtisaari Plan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511635410 |
| Potter, M. (2020). Inclusion in Post-Conflict Legislatures: The Kosovo and Northern Ireland Assemblies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-25536-7 |
| Prelec, M., Rashiti, N. (2015). Serb Integration in Kosovo After the Brussels Agreement. Prishtina: Balkan Policy Research Group. |
| Stepien, M. (2018). An Awkward Situation: Kosovo, the EU and EU Member States. Wroclaw Review of Law, Administration & Economics, 8(1), pp. 44–55. DOI: 10.1515/wrlae-2018-0023 |
| Tomić, N. (2020). Between Border Dispute and Ethnic Conflict: The EU as a Just Mediator in the Serbia-Kosovo Stalemate. GLOBUS Research Paper, 5/2020, pp. 1–24. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3552090 |
| Vakhtangidze, V. (2020). The Impact of Kosovo: A Precedent for Secession in Georgia? In: Summers, J. (ed.), Kosovo: A Precedent? Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, pp. 395–426. DOI: 10.1163/9789047429432_014 |
| Viceré, M. (2015). Beyond the Intergovernmental-Supranational Divide in EU Foreign Policy: Insights from Kosovo. Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), 15, pp. 1–22. |
| Viceré, M. (2019). The Future Is Back: The EU, Russia and the Kosovo-Serbia Dispute. Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), 19, pp. 1–21. |
| Zirojević, M. (2016). The Capacity and Performance of The EULEX Mission in Kosovo. In: Mehmeti, L., Radeljić, B. (eds.), Kosovo and Serbia: Contested Options and Shared Consequences. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 130–148. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt1qv5n21.13 |