Brussels: Agreement difficult but possible to reach

During the 12-hour round of the dialogue between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci in the cabinet of High EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, a new version of the draft agreement was presented to the participants, Tanjug's sources say. The non-paper consists of eight points and includes the proposition of EU experts concerning the basic principles of the future agreement, starting from the powers for the association of Serb municipalities up to the solution of the conflict concerning telecommunications and electricity. Nobody asked for any documents to be signed because these are mainly the propositions formulated on grounds of the course of the dialogue so far, Tanjug learnt from a Brussels official who is in the know of the dialogue. The official noted that similar documents were prepared in the previous rounds as well, some of which later leaked out to the public. The first two points of the proposition cover the most difficult issue in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, the powers of the association of Serb municipalities which Belgrade wants to be extensive but which Pristina refused to grant. According to the propositions of a group of experts hired by Ashton, a compromise solution was found in the formulation according to which more extensive powers for Serb municipalities should, in keeping with the Ahtisaari Plan, be transferred to the future association of Serb municipalities which would gather all nine municipalities where Serbs constitute the majority population. According to this plan, the municipal representatives would be able to appoint heads of police stations, who would formally be a part of the Kosovo police, though they would have a certain level of autonomy. The participants in the dialogue have not yet agreed on Belgrade's request for the association of the Serb municipalities to have a uniform police service, while Pristina advocates that the association should only have coordination between the police heads. When it comes to courts, it was suggested to open a separate department of the Pristina-based Appellate Court in north Mitrovica, whose members would reflect the ethnic structure of north Kosovo. It was suggested that the Basic Court in north Mitrovica should start operating under the auspices of EULEX, which is opposed by citizens of Kosovo who insist to stay within Serbia's justice system. Such solutions are not acceptable for Belgrade, and therefore Pristina is expected to make a concession. “In order to do that, it is necessary to make minimum changes in the Kosovo laws, rather than the Constitution,” Tanjug's source said. These two debatable issues for Serbia, in terms of which Pristina is expected to show readiness for a compromise, will be put on the agenda of the next round of the dialogue scheduled for April 2. “We believe that this is difficult, but it is possible to reach an agreement as early as on April 2,” Tanjug's source said.