Daniel Serwer is the Director of the US Institute of Peace (USIP), which closely studied Kosovo throughout the years. In an interview, Serwer says that the new EULEX proposal is “a stealth proposal for partition” of Kosovo.

NKR: Should EU and USA pressure Prishtina more strongly to accept the new proposal for EULEX?

Serwer: No.  The EU and US have already pressured Prishtina to accept the Ahtisaari plan.  Now that Kosovo is sovereign, why should it be pressured again? 

The way I read this proposal it is not status neutral but instead tries to lay the basis for division of Kosovo and for further limitations on Prishtina’s exercise of sovereignty.  To be status neutral, it would have to state clearly that Kosovo is and should remain a single political unit under a single sovereign power.  That the proposal I have seen does not do. 

NKR: What would be the best, the most efficient way, to do it?

Serwer: The best way to discuss this proposal and others is face to face:  Prishtina and Belgrade should meet on equal terms to discuss the details and sort them out.

NKR: If EULEX starts operating under this new agreement, would it mean that it is another mission – not the one that was projected by Marty Ahtisaari?

Serwer: If you call a horse's tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have?  EULEX is EULEX. But the political framework in which it operates is important: it should be a framework that maintains Kosovo as a single entity, whatever its status. 

NKR: Do you believe that UNSC will reach an agreement?

Serwer: I don't know.  I would only be happy with an agreement that definitively ruled out partition. 

NKR: Some EU members don’t like the idea of EULEX going in with no UN approval. Do you think the US can convince EU detractors?

 

Serwer: I don't think EULEX needs UN approval, but I do think this whole process would go better if the Security Council would lift resolution 1244, which puts the UN in an awkward position in Kosovo.  It is more than time for Washington to try to figure out how that can be done.
                 
NKR: How do you expect that situation with EULEX and UNMIK will develop in future?

Serwer: Belgrade has conducted a diplomatic campaign.  As a result, UNMIK lacks the courage to withdraw and EULEX lacks the courage to deploy.  Is this making Serbs better off?  It doesn't seem that way to me. I'd like to see EULEX doing its job on the entire territory of Kosovo.