Consensus Impossible for Demarketing

Reaching a consensus within the political spectrum in Kosovo about ratification of the border demarcation agreement with Montenegro seems to be very difficult.

Currently, this agreement is supporting only one ruling party and one in opposition, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (ruling party) and the Democratic League of Kosovo (opposing party), respectively.

Despite in their public statements, political party leaders address the issue of demarcation as urgent and impassable criteria for the visa liberalisation process, in practice, this leadership has not yet undertaken any new initiative to reach a consensus for ratification of the agreement.

The head of the Kosovo Assembly has indefinitely postponed the review and voting of the border demarcation bill between Kosovo and Montenegro. Up to the postponement had come precisely because of a lack of consensus, so that time is given to political parties to find an acceptable solution for all sides.

Zenun Pajaziti, deputy from the ranks of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, told Radio Free Europe that consensus can be reached with a political will of all political parties.

Despite the delay, the current circumstances show there is an extraordinary civic expectation as well as the repeated demand of our international partners. Likewise, it is recent even for all political parties to reflect. The idea of consensus on these subjects is not new. It's good that the Speaker of the Parliament is doing everything possible to have a consensus on passing this”, Pajaziti said.

On the other hand, Zafir Berisha, deputy from the Kosovo Initiative, which is part of the Kosovo government, thinks there can be no agreement between political parties.

He stresses that there can be no consensus, until, as he said, the first Commission for Border Marking has made mistakes and has passed competencies.

Berisha thinks that a joint declaration between Pristina and Podgorica concerning this agreement should be backed by party chairman Fatmir Limaj, who is aiming to reach a joint declaration between Pristina and Podgorica.

The only option could be an agreement between the two governments, which in a certain period will review the agreement or the Kosovo Parliament issue a resolution by which the Government and the Parliament of Montenegro should be announced that the Commission (state pre-emptive that had made measurements) has, in effect, passed its competencies on the Government's decision, because it was taken with the definition of the border, even though it had not been authorised<1>, Berisha said.

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Limaj, chairman of the Kosovo Initiative party, has said that an idea for resolving the political knot concerning ratification of the demarcation agreement with Montenegro is already under consideration.

According to him, the agreement reached between Kosovo and Montenegro for demarcation of the border leaves room to correct possible mistakes that could have occurred in the first version of the agreement.

Meanwhile, the Vetevendosje Movement continues to reiterate the position that the existing border demarcation agreement with Montenegro is wrong and the Parliament should not ratify it.

Albulen Haxhiu, MP from the Vetevendosje Movement, as well as chairman of the Commission for Legislation, told Radio Free Europe that the only consensus Vetevendosje would accept is to reject the existing agreement.

“We will support a position that opposes the current demarcation agreement with Montenegro, which paves the way for negotiating a new agreement, as provided in the current Commission's report on Marking of Border”, Haxhiu said.

MP Haxhiu said Vetevendosje does not support even new ideas that are being mentioned recently, including the initiative by Deputy Prime Minister Limaj.

These are low and unacceptable trends for the Vetevendosje Movement. We will co-operate with anyone who is interested in saving the territory of the Republic and of course our position will be the same that we have had so far”, Haxhi said.

The border demarcation agreement with Montenegro was signed in August 2015 in Vienna, Austria. This agreement was ratified by Montenegro's Assembly, but not by Kosovo's.

Kosovo's lack of ratification is linked to domestic objections from a part of the political spectrum, which estimates that through this agreement, Kosovo has lost over 8 thousand hectares of land.

International calls for ratification of the demarcation agreement with Montenegro date back more than two years.