Who serves the Association-Integration or the Restore of parallelisms in the North

Five years since reaching the first agreement on normalising reports between Kosovo and Serbia, where the founding of the Serbian Association is one of the main points, Pristina and Belgrade continue the political battle if this association will be a non-governmental organisation or an essential autonomy.

Pristina's official stance is clear, the Association of Serbian municipalities without executive competence. But Belgrade, with the support of Serbian representatives in Kosovo, aims to create a Serb municipal community that would be a kind of third level of power.

Despite differences, the European Union as a facilitator of the talks requires that the establishment procedures be launched, conforming the Brussels Agreement.

The start of procedures for establishing the Association of Serb majority municipalities still remains pending the Kosovo Government's decision.

Kosovo institutions' leaders have said the Managing Team for the establishment of Association in the near future will be functional, always according to the principles of Brussels, the Kosovo Constitution and the Constitutional Court decision.

Kosovo institutions officials estimate that dialogue, rather than ultimatums, is the way to move forward for the construction of European and multiethnic Kosovo.

Kosovo Serb representatives from the ten Serb-run municipalities have given a kind of ultimatum to Kosovo government leaders that if they do not form the Association of municipalities by 20 April, they themselves will establish it unilaterally.

Kosovo's former chief negotiator in dialogue with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, tells Radio Free Europe that the Association of Serb majority municipalities should be formed by Kosovo authorities and any other tendency for its formation will remain illegal and of no importance.

It stresses that the Serbian state itself is preventing the start of work on establishing association.

Kosovo has tried several times to start drafting the statute for Association in accordance with Kosovo laws, the Constitution and the Constitutional Court's decision, because it also envisions the Brussels agreement itself, but every time we have tried, Serbia has repeatedly made several instructions to prevent this process”, Tahiri says.

It emphasises that actions like that of establishing a once bridge wall of the Iber River, the trend of introducing a train without permission in Kosovo, and ultimately the illegal entry of Serbian officials on Kosovo territory, are some of Serbia's destructive actions, are hindering the formation of association.

Serbia, in my opinion, does not want this association, because it is aware that association will not have executive competence and will not be at the level of governance in Kosovo. When they signed it at the time, either they didn't read it well, or later when they analyzed it, Serbia has repented, because the first paragraph of the agreement clearly says that the majority Serb Asociation in Kosovo will be done according to Kosovo laws, and the same says legalisations are made by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo”, Tahiri notes.

Former Minister for Dialogue in the Government of Kosovo Edita Tahiri emphasises that in time all of Kosovo's efforts are facing instructions, as she says, the European Union should now be more vocal.

The goal of dialogue is to normalise the situation in the country's north, eliminate parallel structures and normalise neighbourly relations between the two states. Remember here, the role these days belongs to the European Union to be loud. I have welcomed the fact that representatives of the European Union have not been at that meeting of Serbs in Mitrovica and that it shows they have given signal that they do not support illegal initiatives”, Tahiri said.

On the other hand, Dusan Radakovic, executive director of the non-governmental organisation “Centre for representation of democratic culture”, which has its centre north of Mitrovica, tells Radio Free Europe that it has been done nearly five years so far that the Community (of Serb majority municipalities) has not been formed, even though, according to the Brussels Agreement, there are 5 or 6 points, which specifically concern the Community.

The “Serbs expect a lot from the Serb municipality community, perhaps even more than needed, in general for employment, security and all that may benefit. Why, hasn't it happened so far? I think there's been no political will, first of all, and this is a big step, which should probably also be concession for the Community in Kosovo”.

So, of course, the government in Pristina has not been ready to give this concession even because of elections, which we actually have, whether parliamentary or local, every year. So, I think this is the main fact that so far we haven't had institutions, either, we haven't had the Community of Serb municipalities”, Radakovic says.

Political Science Lawmaker at Pristina University Adem Beha tells Radio Free Europe that delays in creating association have resulted from politics itself.

He even stresses that the recent trends of the Serbian side show they are aimed at a new formulation of this agreement.

This results mainly from recent events such as the killing of Oliver Ivanovic, the arrest of Djuric and so on. So there is a kind of tendency to reconsider and re-construct the text of the initial agreement, and this could be a potential risk to the strategic interests of Kosovo”, considers Beh.

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.