Hoxhaj: Association and seating at the UN come at the same time

According to him, Kosovo should not rush to form this mechanism and it should become functional only when the country has taken its seat as full-fledged members of the UN.

“Since the Association aims to advance the position of Serbs in Kosovo, I am of the opinion that its establishment, de fact, should occur in parallel with Kosovo's membership in the UN, when Kosovo receives a full international judicial status and recognition”, Hoxhaj said.

Hoxhaj says it is not important that the issue of association will be introduced into a package of a final dialogue agreement with Serbia, but that, according to him, should work as a parallel process.

The key “is that it should be part of the same process and I think it meets the expectation that Serbian citizens are living in Kosovo, but also fulfills the expectation that Kosovo has as a whole and the Western Kosovo partners as its backer”, Hoxhaj told Radio Free Europe.

Kosovo's former chief negotiator in dialogue with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, told Radio Free Europe that Kosovo institutions should be careful in the process of forming the Association of Serb majority municipalities and should not delay until a final agreement is reached in political dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

“In the final phase, where final agreements are expected, it is not good for the Association to enter that package because there Serbia will prove on behalf of the final agreement to seek executive competency that goes contrary to the Constitution and Kosovo laws”, Tahiri said.

Tahiri said if there were major delays in forming association, and if this issue entered the package of a final agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, according to her, such a thing would be wrong.

I don't think much should be said about concrete issues, but mutual recognition between the two states should be discussed, because just mutual recognition between the two states brings peace and stability to the region, and brings the chair to the UN for Kosovo automatically. This agreement of mutual recognition opens Serbia's way towards the EU, and on the other hand, Kosovo removes obstacles on the road to full recognition because we still need full recognition and automatically, as a result, the chair at the UN”, Tahiri said.

On the other hand, political analyst Imer Mushkolaj says Kosovo institutions should not delay in forming association and this mechanism, as he says, should be formed as soon as possible and on the basis of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo's amendments and agreement reached between the two countries in Brussels.

The “Sounds incredible, but the formation of association at this stage is not even Belgrade. When I say that, I keep in mind what they are reaching for most, they are aiming at dividing Kosovo. Even the discussion about this possibility of resolution, as they call it, the status of Kosovo, is already on the table, and because of that they are aiming at some form to achieve more about association or the possibility of creating the association that would receive less. For this reason, it is important that Kosovo institutions speed up the process of forming association according to Constitutional Court judgments”, Mushkolaj said.

The Kosovo government has said the final draft of the Association statute, at the end of the process together with the directive, will be sent to the Constitutional Court to ensure it is in full compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

The agreement on Association, between Kosovo and Serbia, was reached on August 25th 2015, but the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, on December 23rd 2015, had estimated that some of the general principles of the Association Agreement, were out of harmony with the Constitution of Kosovo and that these principles should be in accordance with the constitutional standards of the Republic of Kosovo.