Registration of license plates in Kosovo was agreed and signed in 2011 and there has to be time limit to this, but Belgrade is still trying to delay it for further ten months, the founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Sonja Biserko said, adding that “as I can see Americans are supporting it.”

Ms. Biserko made that statement in an exclusive interview with Albanian Daily News on October 27, 2022.

”It is Belgrade tactics to delay everything they can and put blame on Kosovo because they are waiting for change in the White House,” she said. 

October 31 is the deadline for the conversion of license plates of Serbia to those of Kosovo by Serbian citizens in northern areas of this country. 

Touching upon the November Summit of the Berlin Process, an initiative launched by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel ten years ago, President of HCHR in Serbia Biserko said the revival of the process is the result of the ongoing war in Ukraine and profound geostrategic change in Europe. “Germany proved to be the most serious opponent to re-composition of the Balkans which would, should it happen, take several decades ahead for stabilizing the region. Therefore in my view, since the Balkans has always lived along with each other, it is more opportune to preserve the current architecture and open the European perspective more seriously.”

In a comment on the Open Balkans, she was of the opinion that the project was not the appropriate framework from the very beginning. “First of all, because it was not based on equal basis. I have in mind the status of Kosovo which Serbia is keeping on hold for too long. Secondly, it overlaps with other initiatives, which have the same or similar objectives. It looks as if it was meant to meet primarily interests of Serbia and Albania,” said president of the HCHR in Serbia Sonja Biserko in the following interview:

Albanian Daily News: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that the Western Balkans Summit will be held in Berlin in November this year to give a new impetus to the Berlin Process. It is official that the event will take place in Berlin on November 3. What are your expectations from such a meeting if we take into consideration that the initiator of the project, Angela Merkel is not at the helm of the German government and there has been a sort of apathy around it?

-President of HCHR in Serbia Sonja Biserko: Revival of the Berlin Process is the result of the ongoing war in Ukraine and profound geostrategic change in Europe. In this new context Western Balkans is perceived as a vulnerable spot that has to be addressed more seriously than it has been in the last decade. November meeting is supposed to provide new highlights and hopefully more profound EU engagement. 

- In interviews with Albanian Daily News but also on other occasions you have been optimistic that the Berlin Process will not stop. Being on the eve of the Berlin Summit could you reveal, please, which has been your credo that such an initiative would go on?

- Partly it comes out of my belief that the Balkans belongs to the European sphere and maybe I am always trying to see more optimistic side to it. However, we have new start now due to new circumstances. Germany proved to be the most serious opponent to re-composition of the Balkans which would, should it happen, take several decades ahead for stabilizing the region. Therefore in my view, since the Balkans has always lived along with each other, it is more opportune to preserve the current architecture and open the European perspective more seriously.

- Given the changes that have happened in the Western Balkans, particularly the official start of the intergovernmental talks between the EU and Albania and North Macedonia, do you think that there should be changes to certain aspects of the implementation of the initiative?

- It was unfair and shortsighted to keep North Macedonia and Albania for so long away from the talks with the EU. Obviously, Russian threat has changed the approach to the Western Balkans and I sincerely hope that this time both the EU and the US will be persistent in finalizing the “unfinished business”. It very much relates to their approach to Serbia and its aspirations in the region.

- Now when any suspicion that the Berlin Process is ‘dead’ has disappeared against the expectations of a fresh start, do you think that the three-country project of the Open Balkans loses its meaning because it lacks regional inclusiveness and there might be duplication of the projects?    

- The Open Balkans in my view was not the appropriate framework from the very beginning. First of all, because it was not based on equal basis. I have in mind the status of Kosovo which Serbia is keeping on hold for too long. Secondly, it overlaps with other initiatives which have the same or similar objectives. It looks as if it was meant to meet primarily interests of Serbia and Albania. Should Berlin process become for what I hope it would, the Open Balkans loses the relevance. It does not mean that Balkan countries should not continue their bilateral cooperation.

- The Berlin Process was designed to be a platform for all six Western Balkans states and act as a catalyst for a faster EU integration. The EU and the region are in a different situation because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Two questions: do you think the process will be more dynamic in pushing for WB countries’ integration process and secondly, will it be of help for the visa liberalization of Kosovo?

- Again, visa liberalization for Kosovo should have been in place much earlier since Kosovo has accomplished all conditions. The US priority as I understand in this phase is to finalize Kosovo status with an agreement on normalization with Serbia which is on the table now. The ongoing Western diplomatic engagement should resolve all these pending issues, or it seems as their ambition. Euro integration of the Western Balkans needs to become more dynamic process or else there is danger of further backsliding of the region.  It also seriously undermines European security.

- Do you think that the other major EU members will not leave all the burden of the initiative to Germany, but could be more active in promoting the implementation of its platform?

- So far, Germany was the most engaging country in the region and will probably continue to be so. United Kingdom is also becoming more present. The US presence is important in this phase because the US is still perceived in the region as the country able to broker solutions. In my view, more comprehensive strategy for the economic revival of the region is needed.

- As we are having this exchange of opinions on the eve of the implementation by Kosovo government of the law according to which ethnic Serbs in Kosovo must have Pristina-issued plates on their vehicles after October 31 this year, please could you tell us what might happen as such a measure is opposed by Serb community in the North which have the support of Belgrade and in addition it was earlier postponed by two months?

- Registration of license plates was agreed and signed in 2011. There has to be time limit to this. Belgrade is still trying to delay it for further ten months and as I can see Americans are supporting it. On one side they are hoping for the agreement on normalization to be in place in few months and on the other they appease to Belgrade. It is Belgrade tactics to delay everything they can and put blame on Kosovo because they are waiting for change in the White House. 

Belgrade tabloids are already spinning the stories that Kosovo has lost American support. I am aware that Russian pressure on Serbia is strong but it is really about whether we really want to be part of Europe or we only want European money and Russian “values”. / ADN