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No matter whether you’re walking through the streets of Pristina, or watching TV, or having coffee in some café bar, it is more than certain that at some point you will see the slogan “Standards before status” – it’s been repeated so often and in so many places, one can easily call it the most popular slogan in Kosovo. The idea was primarily initiated by the ex-SRSG Michael Steiner and became one of the most debated issues in political and other circles in Kosovo.

Everybody knows the slogan, but how many actually understood its implications?

For the majority in Kosovo, standards were seen as a means to prevent the resolution of the final status, but this was also due to misconceptions about the standards in the first place.

However, some water has flown under the bridge since then - a date for achieving these standards has now been set, and the institutions charged with assessing the progress in reaching them have also been determined. This, after a decision taken by the government of Kosovo, which for now, appears to have popular backing.

According to Whit Mason, UNMIK Public Affairs Adviser, progress on this issue is primarily due to pressure from the 5 nation contact group, and in particular from the US. They have been pushing for the implementation of the standards, but with a cut-off date. 2005 now appears to be the deadline for assessing progress on the standards issue, the first time that a date has been set. But, cautions Mason, we should not exaggerate the importance of the so-called cut off date, because it is really anything new.

Whitney Mason: We do continuous assessments all the time. This is simply a psychological target for people to aim at. The fact is that if they had made enormous progress by 2005 and no date had been set, an assessment would still be made on a quarterly basis that year. It still would have been noted and the international community would have said “ Oh, terrific we’re in a position to begin the process to resolve status, which everybody would like to do.

The issue of standards and status was the main question raised in Forum Kosovo 2015, a debate organized by KACI (Kosovo Action for Civic Initiative). There was unanimous agreement that these standards should be achieved but according to Ylber Hysa, director of KACI, the civic society in Kosovo should be much more involved in this process.

Ylber Hysa: Forum Kosova 2015 wanted to do something that is different from what UNMIK and the Kosovo government have been doing and that is to initiate debate since standards are about the citizens of Kosovo and related to their future and it is very strange that they are not involved in this.

Iljaz Ramajli is a Pristina based lawyer and a former high-ranking official from Kosovo. Setting up standards are not enough he says, it’s the mechanism for achieving these standards that should be better defined.

Iljaz Ramajli: I consider that standards should be fulfilled in Kosovo and as you know, the motto now is not “standards before status” but “standards and status” and this is a good thing. However, in order to comply with these standards, the responsibilities, executors and the mechanism for achieving these standards should be defined better. I believe that there should be closer links between UNMIK and Kosovo institutions, which will be sustainable and based on trust. This requires UNMIK to be transparent in its actions and take into consideration the advice and opinions of Kosovo institutions.”

The transfer of competencies has long been a thorny issue and was, not surprisingly, one of the most debated issues at the Forum. All participants agreed that more competencies should be transferred to Kosovo institutions. But they also stressed the need for the political elite of Kosovo to create a climate in order for these standards to be accepted by all and to work towards realizing them.

One of the most important standards is the issue of returns and minorities. According to Enver Hoxhaj, Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences at Pristina University, this should be viewed from a more general perspective, including the influence of Belgrade on the Serb population in Kosovo.

Enver Hoxhaj: The issue of Serb returns or that of democratic institutions and the participation of the minorities should be seen from a much general viewpoint, since we should not exclude the possibility that the moment the process of achieving the standards begins, Serbs could receive a signal from Belgrade and start interrupting or even blocking the political process.

In this context, it is also important to underline the responsibilities of the minority communities. The situation of Kosovo’s Bosniak community for example, has improved drastically compared to the situation immediately after the war, according to Nadira Avdic-Vllasi, representative of the Bosniak community in Forum Kosovo 2015. Avdic-Vllasi, who is also the editor in chief of the Bosnian language program at RTK, says this was mainly due to the efforts of the Bosniak minority to integrate within Kosovan society. And this, she adds, was achieved without major assistance from the international community.

Nadira Avdic-Vllasi: Kosovo Bosnians had no support from any other center outside Kosovo and they tried to integrate within the Kosovo society. I have to say without the slightest interest shown by the international community. And we have succeeded in that. I can say that with certainty because I constantly follow the developments in Kosovo and if we look at the security situation now there has been a 180° change. There are no problems in Prizren, Gjilan, Mitrovica even in Pristina, there are no problems because they speak their own language. Simply because people have understood that they are a part of this society and that they have to move freely, which was facilitated thanks to the media and the institutions of self-government.

This is obviously not the case with all the minorities. Participants of Forum Kosovo 2015 underlined the need for more effort on the part of the Serb community. They need to have the will to integrate into the new Kosovo reality, but Forum 2015 also urged the Kosovo institutions to do more to facilitate their integration.

Participants also called for a special fund to be set up to facilitate the involvement of civil society in achieving these standards – one nuance is extremely important though – the flavour of the day is now “standards and status”. It is to be hoped that this at least will not lead to the same misconceptions and misunderstandings that existed before.

That does it for this edition of UNMIK on air. Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.