A Political Fulfilment of Standards
A Political Fulfilment of Standards

Summary/Abstract: “Standards before status” has long been the mantra, according to the author who is Research Director of a major think tank in Prishtina. As the International Contact Group is gradually ruling out some negative options from the table, the path to status may be approaching. After the last show of determination not to allow Kosovo to be partitioned, a panicky Belgrade turned to plan C, silently acknowledging that Kosovo will be independent of Serbia but hoping that there is still time to obstruct the international recognition of Kosovo. Prishtina may still become independent, though unlikely, as long as Belgrade tacitly threatens with instability. The paper suggests that Prishtina fulfils most of the standards politically by adopting a number of mechanisms that empower the voice of communities at the central level and at the municipal level but without compromising the ability of the majority to govern. Such a move would make Kosovo by far the friendliest entity in the Balkans and certainly among the friendliest ones in Europe towards minorities, and regardless of the technical fulfilment of the standards, it would fulfil these at a political level, which requires less money but more courage. Such a course of action would increase the chances that the international community can positively reward the ambitions of the Kosovar Albanians for statehood, and it would also take away the only humanistic argument that Belgrade has for obstructing this status and for advocating territorial autonomy for the three northern municipalities.

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