Keep going in the right direction

Here is my full testimony this afternoon to the Subcommitee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.  The prepared oral version (I was limited to five minutes) is below:

Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity to testify on the pathway to peace for Kosovo and Serbia, which has been a long and difficult one.  With your permission, I’ll summarize and submit my full testimony for the record.

I’d like to make five points:

1. This is a good agreement.  If fully implemented, it would go a long way to establishing democratically validated institutions as well as clear legal and police authority on the whole territory of Kosovo while allowing ample self-governance for Serbs in northern Kosovo on many other issues.
2. Implementation will be a challenge, one that requires Pristina to make integration attractive and Belgrade to end the financing that makes resistance in northern Kosovo possible.  Belgrade and Pristina will need to cooperate to end the smuggling of tax-free goods that has enriched organized crime and spoilers, both Serb and Albanian.
3. The agreement should end any discussion of exchange of territory between Kosovo and Serbia, which is a bad idea that risks destabilizing Bosnia, Macedonia and even Serbia proper.  We should work to make northern Kosovo a model of win/win reintegration for the rest of the Balkans. 
4. Belgrade and Pristina have taken an important step towards normalizing relations, but they will need to do more, including eventual recognition and exchange of ambassadors.  If that does not happen, neither will be able to get into the EU and both may try to arm themselves for a possible new confrontation.  In accordance with this agreement, each will apply for EU membership as an independent and sovereign state.
5. We owe props to the EU and in particular Catherine Ashton, not only for the mediation work she did but also for the vital incentives the EU provided.  The US government shares supporting actor credit with leading Lady Ashton, which is as it should be. 

Mr. Chairman, I am relieved that an agreement has been reached, but still concerned about the future.  The Belgrade/Pristina dialogue is a classic case of elite pact-making without a broader peacebuilding process.  The underlying drivers of conflict have not been addressed.  Many Serbs and Kosovo Albanians still think badly of each other and rank themselves as victims.  There has been little mutual acknowledgement of harm.  Few Albanians and Serbs have renewed personal ties.  It is becoming increasingly difficult to do so as many younger people lack a common language other than English.  It is almost 14 years since the end of the NATO/Yugoslavia war.  To be self-sustaining, this peace process is going to need to go deeper and involve many more citizens on both sides.

The road is long, Mr. Chairman, but we are near its end and we need to keep going in the right direction.