The demarcation could be held hostage to a vote, what would happen Tuesday?

The head of the Kosovo assembly in accordance with all parliamentary groups eventually decided that the continuation of the session for ratification of the demarcation agreement with Montenegro would be held Tuesday (20.03). The hearing was said to be held today, this Friday, but was postponed for the 2003th with the reasoning of the absence of some MPs who reportedly are abroad. Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj says he expects Kosovo assembly deputies to reflect and support the demarcation law so that Kosovo citizens can emerge from isolation and move freely to the Schengen area. Marking the border line with Montenegro is a condition of the European Commission for visa liberalisation for Kosovo.

The “also for me has not been an easy process and continues to be not an easy process, but I cannot see my people isolated, given that we have managed to maintain territorial integrity and the possibility of redressing the agreement in the direction of Chuckor and Tower”, Haradinaj said.

This year alone, the Kosovo Parliament attempted three times to ratify this agreement, but failed to pass because it was lacking in votes.

The agreement on demarcation with Montenegro signed in 2015 has also been met with an annex-agreement between the two presidents -- the one of Kosovo Hashim Thaci and Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic. In the agreement signed between the two presidents, it is said that after ratification of the demarcation in the Kosovo assembly, the two countries will review the border line and reform should there be concessions.

Will 80 votes be achieved?

80 votes are needed for ratification of the demarcation agreement, out of the 120 deputies Kosovo parliament holds. But for now it is still unclear whether the ruling coalition, which is backed by the Democratic League of Kosovo, has the necessary 80 votes. 79 ruling coalition votes and LDK are said to have secured, after a deputy of the Vetevendosje movement, Donika Kadaj-Bujupi, joined Prime Minister Haradinaj's AAK. But it remains to be seen by Tuesday whether even one vote has been managed to achieve the necessary 80 votes to pass the demarcation. The Vetevendosje movement and the Republika Srpska list have so far declared against the agreement.

The Vetevendosje movement claims that Kosovo with this current agreement loses territory. Vetevendosje requires that “initially correct mistakes made in marking the border with Montenegro and then ratify the” agreement. While for the Republika Srpska list, the key “is to form the association of Serb majority municipalities rather than ratification of demarcation with Montenegro”.

The top Serbian list “is the formation of the Serbian Communists Association (AKS) in Kosovo, not the issue of Kosovo demarcation with Montenegro. The demarcation is of importance to Kosovo Albanians, but for Serbs in Kosovo, much more important is the formation of the AKS and the advance of the position of Serbs in Kosovo”, says Igor Sini from the Serb group Srpska.

The EU office in Pristina, meanwhile, has welcomed the agreement of the two presidents of Kosovo and Montenegro, which allowed the demarcation to be processed in the Kosovo assembly.

“We are expecting the successful and soon to ratify the long-verbalised agreement on demarcation with Montenegro, which will bring Kosovo citizens to enjoy the possibility of free movement”, the chief of the EU office in Kosovo, Natalia Apostolova, has indicated.