2013 Brussels Agreement

which recognizes the need for an association of Serbian municipalities.

Now, I think we need to remind ourselves of the 2013 Brussels Agreement.

I remember very well we were at Globesec in Bratislava.

It was a huge happiness, I would say, on all sides at the hotel there, where Serbia, under the government where current President Vucic was deputy prime minister, with Dacic Ivica, who was prime minister, who accepted that Serbian judges and prosecutors go to Pristina, put their hand on the constitution of the independent Republic of Kosovo and accept to be judges of Kosovo.

And I want to warn all of you, all of you here who belong to the Global South, pay the utmost attention while signing all the agreements with great powers.

That is how we signed the famous Brussels Agreement in 2013, wishing to resolve problems between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija by compromise.

All the obligations that were to be met by Serbia have been met, and the only one that was to be met met by Albanians, the one about the establishment of the community of Serb municipalities, has not been met to this day.

It is interesting that the agreement was accepted not only in the presence of the EU, but it was also confirmed with a signature of the EU, but it meant actually nothing.

Yeah, unfortunately, the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, which is the official title of this, the process, is totally stuck in the last couple of years.

But it's important to talk a little bit about the Brussels Agreement.

So what is it?

It, it's, in 2013 and in 2015, there have been, um, many agreements between Kosovo and, and Serbia, how, uh, facilitated, uh, by the EU side, the two countries tried to, uh, somehow consolidate their relations.

But since then, it didn't make life any harder for Serbia proper, but it made life harder for the Serb minority in Kosovo.

Since then, there has been nonstop police presence in Serb-dominated areas, nonstop patrols, random checks.

And yes, as you said, that Pristina is implementing more and more of its sovereignty regarding currency, regarding transfer of goods, and it has changed some, uh, laws, uh, which favors the central Pristina government in, uh, the Serb-run municipalities, even though it should be the other way around because of the Brussels Agreement.

But it's now in Pristina's favor that they can appoint their deputies in, uh, municipal offices and can, uh, employ Albanian police forces in these regions and into security apparatus.