“It takes political will and leadership to recognize Kosova’s independence”, said Ivan Vejvoda, Permanent Fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
According to Vejvoda, a Serbian by origin, the faster the recognition, the better it would be for both countries.
He listed several reasons why the dialogue has reached a deadlock, including domestic issues, elections as well as lack of political leadership.
“Do we want to be countries that have an unresolved situation, like the Kashmir situation between India and Pakistan for the past 70 years? Do we want to be like Cyprus where more than 45 years things are unresolved? Yes, probably one can live with a status quo, but it’s not healthy in any way political, economic, social, or insecurity terms”, Vejvoda said.
Asked by journalist Ilva Tare whether Vucic felt pressured by the recent visit of Scholz to Belgrade and his statement that the dialogue should conclude with mutual recognition, Vejvoda said it will be seen in the agreements that will follow.
“I think that there’s been an announcement on both sides that some agreements are forthcoming literally in the upcoming weeks, so we’ll see if that happens. If it does, that means that the pressure is working”.
“So, in Serbia, it’s very clear. This has to be solved if Serbia wants to become a new member state”.
Regarding the Serbian President’s recent move in sealing a 3-year deal with Gazprom, while the bloc, as well as other EU aspiring countries, sanctioned Russia, Vojvodina emphasized the importance of the two countries’ ties in the energy sector.
However, he said, Serbia has sided with other countries to condemn the Russian aggression, voted in favor of its ban from EBRD, as well as from the Council of Europe.
“So, on that front, Serbia has done what’s needed. It is sticking out, on this issue that it hasn’t introduced sanctions. I have publicly said in Serbia that I think Serbia should join sanctions that at some level simply to align with the foreign policy of the European Union, and the US on these cases”.
