A step forward, but only one

Here are the agreed conclusions on Integrated B(oundary/order) Management (IBM) reached between Pristina and Belgrade.  No question but that these are a step forward:  an agreement for joint management of whatever you want to call the line between them. The heart of the matter is this:

4. The joint, integrated, single and secure posts will be located within a ‘common area of IBM crossing points’,  jointly delineated, where officials of each party carry out relevant controls. Exceptionally, and limited to the common IBM areas, the parties will not display symbols of their respective jurisdictions;

The EU will chair the implementation group. The arrangement is not intended to decide or influence the question of status, and the agreement does not cover revenue or fiscal questions. It only provides a mechanism through which Belgrade and Pristina will presumably each meet its own revenue and fiscal requirements.

So far, so good. What is the agreement’s broader significance? It is one more step on the way to Belgrade’s acceptance of the Pristina authorities as the legitimate government on the undivided territory of Kosovo, whatever the status of that territory is. It is also a step by Pristina towards problem-solving cooperation with Belgrade.

It is not however more than that.  There is still a long way to go in achieving the kind of cooperation, and mutual respect, that will allow both Serbia and Kosovo to proceed in their ambitions to join the European Union.

Is it enough to gain Belgrade candidacy status for the EU?  On the merits, I think not:  this is far short of Chancellor Merkel’s demand that Belgrade dismantle its parallel structures in northern Kosovo and give up on partition.  There may of course be additional assurances on those points, but I would want to hear them said out loudly and unequivocally, if not signed and sealed, before accepting them as dispositive.  If the EU decides to go ahead without those assurances, it will only be harder to get them in the future.