Tenth anniversary of the First Brussels Agreement

Negotiations were led by the then Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, mediated by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.

The agreement that marked the beginning of the normalization of relations with Kosovo, which is not recognized by Serbia as a sovereign state, has 15 paragraphs, of which the first six refer to the establishment, scope and functions of the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) and the following three to police and security, stipulating that there is to be one police force in Kosovo, including northern Kosovo, called the Kosovo Police.

Paragraph 11 stipulates that municipal elections will be organized in the whole of Kosovo in accordance with Kosovo law.

Paragraph 12 envisages the drafting of an implementation plan and the date when the plan is to be signed.

In Paragraph 13 the two sides undertake the obligation to intensify discussions on energy and telecommunications.

Paragraph 14 reads that it is agreed that “neither side will block, or encourage others to block the other side's progress in their respective EU path.”

Paragraph 15 envisages the establishment of an implementation committee, with the facilitation of the EU.

The Brussels Agreement also contains a document on the integration of Serb-dominated municipalities in northern Kosovo into Kosovo’s legal system, with two guarantees:

- The judicial authorities will be integrated and operate within the Kosovo legal framework, but Kosovo Serbs must be a majority in certain court panels. The panel (Mitrovica District Court) will sit permanently in northern Mitrovica.

– All police work is to be done by the Kosovo Police, but Police Regional Commander for the four northern Serb majority municipalities shall be a Kosovo Serb chosen from a list of candidates provided by the Kosovo Serb municipalities.

Following the war in Kosovo and the 1999 bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, under the Kumanovo Agreement Kosovo was placed under UN administration in accordance with UN Resolution 1244. In 2008 Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, it was recognized by roughly a hundred UN member states, however, following Serbian officials’ diplomatic activities, a certain number of countries withdrew their recognition of Kosovo.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told the annual media conference at the beginning of January that currently 106 states do not recognize Kosovo’s independence, that it is recognized by 84, with three countries that are “uncertain.” The Kosovo authorities, on the other hand, say that Kosovo’s independence is recognized by 115 countries.

The EU-facilitated Kosovo-Serbia dialogue began in March 2011. The first Brussels Agreement was signed on April 19, 2013, while two years later Kosovo and Serbia signed an agreement on the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, defining the general principles and key elements.

The 2015 agreement has 22 items that specify the legal framework, objective, organizational structure, relations with the central authorities, budget and support.

Under the First Brussels Agreement, the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities is to be established on the basis of a statute, one version of which was drafted in 2018 by the Management Team in accordance with the 2015 agreement and with EU approval, but this draft was never presented in public.

This year both Kosovo and Serbia accepted the Franco-German proposal on normalization of relations and agreed on an Implementation Annex. Serbia insists that the Community of Serb Municipalities first needs to be established, that is, the Brussels Agreement provisions fulfilled before the normalization process can continue, while the Kosovo side is refusing to do this, arguing that the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities is not in line with the Kosovo Constitution.

N1 has learnt that the next round of talks will be held on May 2 and that it will focus on the implementation of the signed agreements. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti will be traveling to Brussels for the meeting.

Even though all the deadlines envisaged by the Brussels Agreement have expired, the Community of Serb Municipalities is still nowhere in sight.