Serbia has not officially changed its policy towards Kosovo, but is seriously considering the options that would be more appropriate for both domestic reality and the relations on the international scene. This was the conclusion from the speech that Serbian President Boris Tadic held last week during his visit to London.
Among other things, Tadic emphasized the importance of being inventive as EU borders are becoming less important than the quality of life of citizens and communities in which we live, that Belgrade should get a “guarantee for the functioning of the Serbian community in Kosovo”, the need to always “take into account fears and the fate of minorities “and the Serbian desire for the participation of Kosovo” in our regional forums.”
These views of the Serbian president, to which local media paid no attention and analysts or other politicians made no comments, could have a far-reaching significance. Because the current focus is not on the theory of Serbs in Serbia, with Kosovo as an inseparable part of it, but on the talk about guarantees for the Serbian community in Kosovo. The boundaries are less important than the quality of life, and doors to Kosovo’s participation in regional forums are wide open.
Does all this indicate the changes in the course or even in the strategies related to Kosovo crisis, or simply the “current situation adjustment” aiming at sending a positive signal to Brussels before December 9th, when Serbia’s candidacy for the European Union should be confirmed? There is no definitive answer to this question because no one seems to understand if and when will be possible to implement a new platform.
Reliable sources say that Serbia will still be allowed to begin the negotiations, despite the minimal odds that Belgrade will solve the crisis in the North by December 9th. This could mean that Brussels and other European centers believe in the promise that solution to the North of Kosovo will be found, but it is unlikely that that they will stop insisting on the view that the Serbian government must adjust its politics towards Kosovo to the reality on this ground.
What Tadic said is appropriate to the reality on this ground and to the realistic short, medium and long-term estimations about the developments in this region, but is not transformed into a concrete concept which could be supported by the government and parliament. In politics, as in many other areas, the actual outcomes have only those ideas that produce practical results.
Is it possible to implement these principles, under which circumstances can they be applied and whether they should be examined at all, are the questions that Jovan Teokarevic and Oliver Ivanovic are trying to answer for the portal of Novi Magazin.