Association of Serb majority municipalities blocks Kosovo- Serbia

The European Union Council is expected to discuss on Monday, October 12th, at the level of ministers about Kosovo-Serbia talks and European Union Special Envoy Miroslav Lajcak will report to ministers on their course. Later in the coming week, Lajcak is expected to stay in Pristina and Belgrade.

The last meeting between the two sides was set to take place on September 28th, but was cancelled three days before it occurred due to, as it said, “care measures in the face of the COVID-19” situation.

But, connoisseur of political developments in Kosovo, they say in fact the negotiation process has been blocked by the reopening of the topic of association of Serb majority municipalities.

Naim Rashit of the Balkan Institute for Policy Map, says there are some reasons that have created difficulties in the negotiations process.

“Yes. The association has blocked the dialogue process for several reasons; the first lack of political consensus to move forward; the second has also to do with the construction of the dialogue process, which does not have a clear framework with the sequence of what topic it agrees with; and the third involves the fact that the ongoing belief by all sides is small and that everyone doubts what will follow the 48x1>, he told the Voice of America.

Serbia demands that the European Union's relaxed talks discuss the Association of Serb-run municipalities. Serbian President Vucic said in September that this is the inevitable topic and that Belgrade will insist on the issue.

But, Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has dismissed every opportunity to discuss the issue, considering it closed with the existing 2013 and 2015 agreements.

During this week, the European Union's special representative to Kosovo, Thomas Szunyog, said the question of association is Kosovo's international obligation and that it must be implemented in line with the Constitutional Court's decision regarding it.

The “on the Kosovo side is an obligation it took in 2013 and 2015 to the international level and which has been ratified by the parliamentary majority of Kosovo, so in my view it is an internal constitutional obligation of Kosovo to continue with it. It is now up to Kosovo and its negotiating team to propose how to implement this obligation, undoubtedly part of it is the role of the Constitutional Court, which gave its opinion after that agreement and of course this implementation should be in full compliance with the Constitutional Court”, he said.

Rashi, estimates that Kosovo is mismanaging this topic is damaging its image as a serious partner.

It's embarrassing how Kosovo has created an impression on the European Union and other friendly countries that they are reluctant to implement even what has been agreed upon, which is not true. Or if we're making much of Kosovo and our policy this process that otherwise it would have been easy to implement, and everyone knows even from the policy that that association, at least the one that was agreed on in the Brussels agreement, would have been replaced at a phase”, Rashi said.

According to him, Kosovo representatives should ensure that the association will be implemented, but only by being part of a final agreement guaranteeing Kosovo recognition from Serbia.

Kosovo can find options to offer during the negotiations process. The most important thing is to consolidate and maintain and pressure the countries of the European Union to be the final and here is the core of the issue and here we're having one of the problems, as I said, along with an unprecedented domestic political conflict is a lack of confidence in the process. As confidence in the process grows that it is really talking about final agreements and this lack of trust is generating confusion, reactions”, he says.

Serbia wants this mechanism to be established under the agreement reached in 2015, envisioning broad responsibilities in several areas, but the Constitutional Court of Kosovo had found numerous violations in the agreement, and in its opinion, association could be created only under the constitution and Kosovo laws.

Serbia seeks changes in the Kosovo Constitution to enable more executive responsibilities to the association of Serb-run municipalities. But Kosovo opposes any changes that would give executive responsibility to such an association.