"Belgrade is not facing a fait accompli"

"Belgrade is not facing a fait accompli"

According to him, that proposal is the basis for a long-term process in which a mutually acceptable solution should be reached.

Surlić also told Tanjug that, quite certainly, one of the first steps in that solution will be the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija.

"I would not say that Serbia is facing a fait accompli, because it is a long-term process. As the special envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajčak, emphasized, the conversation between Belgrade and Pristina and its mediation aim to reach mutually acceptable text", says Surlić.

He adds that in Serbia we tend to presume certain solutions in public as final and ultimate, and we do not realize that this is a long-term and complex process. "Regardless of the different positions, that the leading European countries and the USA recognize the independence of Kosovo, they want to reach a compromise solution where Belgrade could present the agreement as a success and something that would be good for all the citizens of Serbia," emphasizes Surlić.

He says that two parallel processes are underway. One, he states, is the idea of forming the CSM, and he adds that we were even able to hear from the US special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, that the CSM will be formed with or without the Prime Minister of the temporary institutions of Pristina, Albin Kurti, and that it is not a question of whether it will be formed, but when and in what way.

"Parallel to that, there is a Franco-German proposal on the table, which should represent a new framework for negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. I would not say that the two processes are mutually exclusive, but that American and European officials work in parallel on both tracks so as not to waste time and it is obvious that this is the biggest pressure on Belgrade and Pristina to reach concrete solutions and agreements since 2013," states Surlić.

He adds that American and European mediators said that the CSM is the basis for reaching an agreement based on the Franco-German proposal, and that Lajčak repeated this in Pristina, and that it is impossible to discuss the implementation of this proposal without everything that was previously agreed, including CSM.

"Additionally, the six proclaimed conditions presented by Albin Kurti, which represent a complete novelty in relation to what was agreed in the Brussels process makes the whole thing more complicated. It is the main stumbling block and I believe that European and American officials will insist that the government of the temporary Pristina institutions to implement the CSM and thus start the process of dialogue between the two parties", believes Surlić.