TWO

ALMOST a quarter of a century ago, NATO responded to the brutal violence perpetrated by Serbia in Kosovo by undertaking a humanitarian intervention. It defeated Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic’s troops and forcing them to withdraw from Kosovo. Since then, Kosovo has been striving to build itself up as a state and in 2008 officially declared its independence from Serbia. In the years since, more than 100 countries recognised it as an independent nation and it joined several international institutions, such as the World Bank and the IMF. In 2010, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Kosovo’s declaration of independence legal.

Serbia never accepted this new state of affairs and, since 2008, tried to undermine Kosovo’s sovereignty at every opportunity.

In 2013, Kosovo and Serbia signed an agreement brokered by Brussels to try and normalise relations between the two nations. In the hopes of preventing ethnic grievances from hindering peace in the region, the agreement detailed conditions for large-scale devolution of northern Kosovo and its majority ethnic Serb population.

Nearly a decade has passed since the signing of this historic deal, but as recent events have shown, normalisation is still proving elusive. What is more, there are fears that this agreement itself may pave the way for the next standoff between Kosovo and Serbia.

The 2013 agreement provided for the merger of the four Serb municipalities in the north – North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic – into an “Association of Serbian Municipalities” that would have extensive powers over economic development, education, healthcare and town-planning in Serb-majority areas of Kosovo.

With IDs, licence plates and barricades no longer stumbling blocks, at least in the present moment, Belgrade is focusing on the swift formation of this association. Pristina, however, is sceptical of the purpose and supposed unity of such a move. In November 2015, the government of Kosovo froze its plans to establish the association, which drew accusations that it was “threatening regional stability”. A few months later, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo declared parts of the 2013 deal, including the point on the municipality association “unconstitutional”.

The events of the past few months, coupled with the ongoing possible formation of a Serbian municipality community indicate we will likely witness many more cycles of escalation between Kosovo and Serbia.

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