The president of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, Wolfgang Petritsch, is skeptical that there will be progress in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue even in 2024. He says that this year's early elections in Serbia and the regular elections next year in the European Union, and in the United States of America, show that there will be no concrete progress in the dialogue, in the implementation of the Brussels and Ohrid agreement. According to him, the next year will focus more on maintaining peace and security between the two countries and the region as a whole.

The former EU Special Envoy for Kosovo and former EU chief negotiator at the Kosovo peace talks, Wolfgang Petritsch, in an interview for KosovaPress, welcomes the increase in the number of NATO forces in Kosovo, to prevent, as he says, incidents like the one on September 24 in Banjska in Zveçan, an aggression which the Kosovo institutions call terrorist and sponsored by Serbia.

He says that extra care is needed so that "nothing happens on the border between Kosovo and Serbia".

"I'm rather skeptical at the moment. I think we have to be aware of the fact that there are elections in Serbia, elections are almost times of heightened contested and violation of the basic democratic rules. So, we need to be extremely careful now that nothing happens on the border between Kosova and Serbia. Therefore, I very much welcome the reinforcement of the international forces there, and I mean it is in a way an irony, you remember probably that in 1999, I was negotiating together with US and a Russian representative in Rambouillet a peace deal... and why did Serbia at the time not sign the agreement, because it did not want to see international NATO forces in Kosova. Now, president Vucic is saying we need a stronger KFOR. So here, you see that actually the international community has done something right, now even accepted by Belgrade... We need to secure a safe environment for the people, for the citizens, and we need both sides to have a strong look at what they are doing politically, and how they are holding back the extremists. Unfortunately, we have seen an extremist clashes in September of this year, this must never happen again, and I think KFOR is now on alert, and will prevent any such incidents in the future", he said.

In this regard, he emphasizes that there is new determination and extreme vigilance from the Americans for security in the region and focus on the implementation of obligations in the dialogue.

"I think the message was very clear on the part of the United States, as well as on the part of the European Union. No more violence on the border. I just had a meeting this past weekend with the US ambassador in Serbia, Mr. Hill, and I had a meeting also with Mr. Escobar a couple of days ago, who came to Vienna and both said that there is a new resolve out there now, and there is extreme vigilance and we will wait what the elections in Serbia will produce, in terms of political results, and then I believe we need to go on and continue the dialogue. But I must tell you, the dialogue was very important, and very successful in the first couple of years, unfortunately, in the last 10 years, since 2013, progress has diminished and after the elections also in the European Union, which you of course are aware will take place next year, as well as the elections in the United States for president, which means that 2024 will not see a massive progress, I'm afraid 2024 will be in to preserve security and safety in the region. But it needs to be used by experts on both sides, by diplomacy in the capitals, diplomatic interventions need to take place in order to prepare so that hopefully in 2025, when all the elections are over, will have a new commission in Brussels, new government in Belgrade that then, hopefully, 2025 will be the year, where a solution to normalization of relations then can really be put on paper and signed, and agreed", he said.

Speaking about the security situation, Petritsch says that the international community has become much more alert for the region, while emphasizing that preventing war in the Balkans is the number one priority for both the EU and the US.

"Well, I can tell you clearly, the international community has become much more vigilant and concerned about the security situation. To prevent war in the Balkans is number one priority both for Europe and the United States. So, both in the region, in Kosova but as well in Bosnia and Hercegovina we have a strengthening of security precautions and that means we, the international community, will see to it that none of it what happened in the past will be repeated. There is no place for another Banjska incident, that is clear and I think therefore the warning that a war could break out; I think Russia is now so much engaged on the defensive in the Ukraine that it will not play an active role. However, you never know what paramilitary, or maybe other extremists like in Republica Srpska could do. This is something we are watching very carefully and I'm quite confident that we will be successful", he said.

For KosovaPress, the president of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, Wolfgang Petritsch, also spoke about the OSCE summit that was held this week in Skopje, North Macedonia.

“Well, I mean, I think the facts are well established. It is a very clear that Russia is the aggressor in this conflict. However, politically speaking, clearly, there were some developments in the past 10-15 years in the relations between Ukraine and Russia, where in particular, Ukraine decided to move towards the West, to embrace Western values, to and embrace Western rules and regulations, and it has decided to apply for membership in the European Union, that is very clearly of great concern for neighboring, Russia. So, politically I have a certain understanding and appreciation that Moscow was over the past couple of years pretty concerned, but I can also say that we have to absolutely exclude war and military intervention is a political mean to arrive at results. War in Europe has been banned since 1945, the European Union was created as a Europe wide peace project. And this is at the same time also the weakness of Europe, we do not have a standing army. But I think that is the clear message also to Russia. Listen, you do not resort to violence, to military intervention when it comes to resolving issues, come back to the table, use the Vienna OSCE location to talk about how to achieve peace, and how to also take into consideration Russia's concerns. But by violating the peaceful approach that Europe stands for, Russia now has to first stop the war and then we can start negotiating. The visit of Lavrov, the meeting also with the US counterpart is extremely important because it tells you that the OSCE does have an important function. But if this is activated, this faction, this really depends on Russia now very much so", he said. /N.Jakupi/