Kosova Democratic Institute (KDI) has released today the results of two public questions, about citizens’ views on the Kosovo – Serbia dialogue process. These questions reveal the civic perspective on the EU’s role as mediator of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process and the impact that citizens expect the current Government to have on this process.

The Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process has been mediated by the EU since 2011, under which a series of agreements have been reached that have not been fully implemented, while relations between Kosovo and Serbia have failed to normalize. When asked what the EU should do to restore its credibility as facilitator of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue process, 66% of citiznes estimated that visa liberalization for Kosovo’s citizens would affect the restoration of that confidence. According to ethnicity, this opinion is shared by 67% of respondents from the Albanian community, 57% of respondents from other non-majority communities and 30% of respondents from the Serb community.

On the other hand, 35% of citizens believe that in order to restore credibility, EU member states should have a unique attitude towards Kosovo, while 33% of them believe that the EU should punish the party that fails to implement the agreements reached, as a way to enhance its credibility as a mediator of the dialogue process. By ethnicity, 66% of Serb community respondents believe that the EU must maintain a neutral stance on Kosovo-Serbia relations to restore its credibility as a mediator. This attitude is supported by 22% of the respondents from the Albanian community and 26% from other communities.

KDI has assessed to highlight the civic perspective on the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue after the formation of the new Government.

Citizens have been asked to select two of the statements most closely aligned with their positions on the dialogue process following the formation of the new Government. About 40% of them estimate that regardless of who is in Government, the Kosovo-Serbia agreement will be determined by the US and EU. This statement was selected mostly by respondents from all communities. Whereas, 39% of the citizens stated that with the new Government they are more confident that the dialogue process will be in favor of Kosovo. This attitude was shared by 41% of respondents from the Albanian community, 26% of respondents from other communities and only 2% of respondents from the Serb community. That the dialogue process will remain the same is an estimate of 11% of respondents.

This public opinion survey was conducted in the period 13 – 20 March 2020, with a representative sample of 1070 respondents nationwide from all communities living in Kosovo. Error margin ± 3% in selection for 95% confidence interval. The survey was conducted through CATI technique (made through telephone interviews and data processed through survey management software).

You can download the full research here.

This public opinion survey was conducted in the framework of the project “European Perspective – Building National Consensus for Normalizing Relations with Serbia” supported by the Swiss Embassy in Pristina.