ENERGY AGREEMENT LAYS FOUNDATION FOR ZSO: Progress in implementation of Brussels agreement suggests Pristina could meet commitment

RESOLVING the energy issue between Belgrade and Pristina paved the way for the implementation of the agreement on the establishment of the Union of Serbian Municipalities to finally come, nine years after the signing of the Brussels Agreement.

After the last round of dialogue in Brussels, citizens from the north of Kosovo and Metohija got security in the supply of electricity that will be in the hands of the Serbian company “Elektrosever” (it could get a license tomorrow), and will no longer depend on Pristina’s good will. This showed that the Brussels agreement, however, could move from the point of “dead letter on paper”, especially the parts about the JCC, which the Pristina side has been sabotaging for years, trying to reduce the Community to the level of a non-governmental organization.

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, reminds that the Vice President of the Provisional Institutions of Priština, Besnik Besljimi, said that Priština is ready to start discussing the JCC after an energy agreement is reached:

– We have been waiting for 10 years for the implementation of the agreement, and the same for the implementation of the Brussels agreement and the first six points related to the formation of the JCC. The energy agreement is what we have been waiting for for years and what Pristina refused and what it did not even want to talk about.

The President of the Assembly Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Milovan Drecun, also states that the agreement shows that the Brussels Agreement exists, as well as that after energy comes the first six points related to the JCC. Drecun adds that it is questionable whether Pristina will respect everything agreed to the end, if previous experiences are taken into account. He assumes that after the negative reactions from Pristina, because the agreement shows the presence of Serbia in Kosovo, Pristina will try to prevent the implementation of various tricks:

– It is obvious that Pristina had some reason to unblock the dialogue and that some progress has been made by reaching this agreement. Whether anyone influenced from the side is currently hidden.

KURTI: INHERITED WHAT WE DIDN’T WANT

AFTER the harsh condemnations that came from Pristina against the Prime Minister of the Provisional Institutions of Pristina, Albin Kurti, that the agreement is a national betrayal, Kurti said yesterday that the EU will monitor the implementation of what Belgrade and Pristina agreed in Brussels:

– We inherited many things that we did not want. We do our best with what we have inherited.