Kosovo not on UN Security Council August agenda

Reuters / Brendan McDermid

The United Kingdom, which is holding the presidency of the UN Security Council this August, has not put Kosovo on the Security Council agenda, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic confirmed on Wednesday.

„They haven’t put it on the agenda, but they will say that consultations will continue with the aim of reaching an agreement because Russia and China are demanding that the session on Kosovo is scheduled for August. Therefore, the conversation will continue,” Dacic told the Serbian broadcaster TV Prva.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Tuesday that the intention of Great Britain to exclude the issue of Kosovo from the Security Council agenda was “politically insincere and flippant”.

Great Britain insisted on hosting the last Berlin Process summit, where regional stability of the Western Balkans was discussed, even though it is leaving the European Union. On the other hand, it does not consider Kosovo to be an issue worth discussing at the Security Council, Brnabic said.

The 2018 Western Balkans Summit of the Berlin Process initiative for European integration of the countries in the region was held in London on July 9-10.

Kosovo is essential for regional stability and someone who asks to host the Berlin Process summit, where this issue is discussed, cannot at the same time claim that the problem is unimportant, Brnabic said.

UN Security Council sessions on Kosovo, where the reports by the Secretary-General are discussed, are held every three months. The last such session was held on May 14.

Great Britain, along with other Western countries, is proposing changes to the format and dynamics of the Kosovo sessions, as well as a reduction of the UN’s Mission in Kosovo’s (UNMIK) budget, saying that the situation in Kosovo does not represent any real threat to international peace and security.

Belgrade, on the other hand, says that the issue of Kosovo is far from resolved and that the situation on the field shows how vital it is to continue the presence and engagement of UNMIK in the current format.