Serbia-Kosovo Deals Require Joint International Monitoring

The EU has brokered dozens of deals between Serbia and Kosovo, but implementation is missing. It’s time to create a monitoring mechanism.

After a summer break that saw tensions rise over the construction of a road in western Kosovo that breaches the protected zone of the Visoki Decani Orthodox monastery, talks led by the United States and the European Union respectively are back on the agenda with two packed weeks ahead.

After an almost two-year hiatus, the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue under EU auspices was relaunched in June, bringing with it a new EU Special Envoy, Miroslav Lajčak.

Besides the change in protocol, the Dialogue, which has often been hailed as the EU’s main foreign policy achievement, saw an unexpected tussle between Brussels and Washington.

Ultimately, Lajčak won out, beating the US to the punch with the first revived talks after the White House’s own effort was scuppered by the announced war crimes indictment of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci.

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