Yesterday's visit of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti to Berlin revived the story of the almost forgotten Washington Agreement signed in the White House in September 2020.
Commenting on Kurti's announcements that Kosovo will apply for membership in certain international organizations such as the Council of Europe, Vučić said that "if someone does not want to respect the Washington Agreement, Serbia will act in its own interest and respect the Constitution of Serbia."
At the beginning of September 2020, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, signed the Agreement on the Normalization of Economic Relations between Serbia and Kosovo - the Washington Agreement - with the then Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti.
Although the Brussels Agreement has been in existence for seven years at the time, which is poorly implemented, former US President Donald Trump, primarily for the purpose of his election campaign, called on the two parties to sign the agreement, which divided international legal experts from the beginning. While on the one hand there was no doubt that the agreement between the two officials could have important political significance, on the legal side there was speculation as to whether it was an agreement or an interstate contract.
Be that as it may, a one-year moratorium was agreed upon in Washington, which means that there will be no lobbying for the "recognition of Kosovo" by Serbia, and that Kosovo will not apply for membership in international organizations during that time.
Given that one year expired in September last year, apart from good will, Kosovo no longer has any international legal obligations not to apply for membership in an international organization.
Even if Kosovo violates that provision, it would not be the only thing from the Washington Agreement that has not been fulfilled. Already this summer, the Prime Minister of Kosovo declared that the Washington Agreement was invalid, and the Assembly in Pristina rejected the resolution on its implementation.
As things stand now, until economic normalization among countries that cannot even agree on the appearance of license plates it did not come, and the new American administration shows the will for the two sides to reach a "comprehensive agreement" with the mediation of the European Union and the Brussels Agreement.
Under the auspices of the EU, Belgrade and Pristina signed the Brussels Agreement in 2013 in order to "pave the way" for the normalization of relations between the two sides. It is also the first agreement on the principles governing the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
Photo: APBrussels Agreement 2013.
The key provisions of the Brussels Agreement refer to the abolition of the security structures and judicial institutions of Serbia in Kosovo, that is, their integration into the judicial system of Kosovo; establishing a regional police commander for four municipalities with a majority Serb population; implementation of local elections in northern municipalities with the mediation of the OSCE; completion of talks on energy and telecommunications.
It is also stated in the Brussels Agreement that "no party will block or encourage others to block the other party's progress on the way to the EU". The biggest stumbling block and still unimplemented part of the Brussels Agreement concerns the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities (CMU), and the principles on which it will be founded.
According to the Brussels Agreement, the Community of Serbian Municipalities was conceived as a mechanism for the protection of the Serbian people, and it would consist of 10 municipalities where the majority of Serbs live, south and north of the Ibar.
However, it is unclear whether such a community would have executive and legislative powers. The two parties still cannot agree on the appearance of the statute that should specify such matters, which would also be the first step towards the formation of the ZSO.
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