Talks with Serbia, problem remains Association

The agreement for the Association of Serbian municipalities should not be discussed by the authorities in Pristina and official Belgrade, Kosovo's Constitutional Court told Radio Free Europe, professor of constitutional legal affairs Mazum Baraliu, because, he says, in this agreement, Kosovo's Constitutional Court had found violations.

According to Baraliu, the discussion within Brussels' dialogue on the issue of association is equally harmful to Kosovo as the idea of exchange, territorial, in just another form.

For association, Kosovo and Serbia on 7 September have started talks in Brussels under the European Union-brokered political dialogue. Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti has said Thursday during a debate on the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee that Kosovo will respect the Association Agreement of Serb majority municipalities.

The question of association should not be exercised at all, not only because the Constitutional Court has found that 23 countries are in violation, but because that agreement is dead. Serbia after that agreement has made numerous instructions. Serbia has taken direct action in destroying Kosovo's citizenship, especially with its recognitions, but also by activating parallel structures within the state of Kosovo”, Baraliu said.

The formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities is envisioned with the first 2013 Brussels Agreement reached in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. But, so far this has not happened because in 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has found that the principles for association are not in line with the Constitution, but that they can be harmonised with the legal act of the Government of Kosovo, which the Serb side has refused.

Even the director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, Ehat Miftaraj, says that the life expectancy of the majority Serb municipalities in Kosovo should be made only on the basis of the Kosovo Constitutional Court's decision.

At the time of drafting the Association of Serb majority municipalities statute, Miftaraj says all recommendations of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo must be taken.

Kosovo's “Republic has taken vows that it must form the Association of Serb majority municipalities, but repeat that the same Association, neither the prime minister nor a political leader can stand out of what the Constitutional Court of Kosovo has determined. In particular, the statute of this association at the time it will be drafted should reflect all recommendations or avoid all provisions contrary to the constitution, which are already recorded by the Constitutional Court”, Miftaraj told Radio Free Europe.

Prime Minister Hoti has said Thursday that in the last round of discussions with Serbia in Brussels, two key issues have been opened: the issue of the Association of Serb majority municipalities, and financial claims between the two countries.

“We have signed agreements in 2015 on this association and we are not trying in any way to escape that agreement, we will fully respect it, but we are agreed to work together to reach a legally binding agreement with Serbia, which includes Association and other questions”, he has stated.

While Vjosa Osmani, head of the Republic of Kosovo Assembly, in an interview for Radio Free Europe, has said that the current prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, is the only public official of Kosovo, who has agreed to reopen the topic of the Association of Serb-run municipalities, and the only public official to date rejects the Constitutional Court's decision on Association.

I think this is the biggest challenge our constitutional system made to him by a prime minister over the past few years, because every prime minister from 2015 onward has said that we will respect the Constitutional Court's decision, therefore the 2015 agreement cannot be implemented. You must choose between your Constitution and the Agreement that 2015, or the document, because the court has considered the intermediate document, not the”, Osmani said.

Mazlum Baraliu, meanwhile, says the agreement creates executive competencies for association, which, according to him, destroys the functionality of the state of Kosovo.

The “Even Association is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo because the Constitution recognises two levels of power. The establishment of association with executive competencies is an intermediate power that destroys the functioning and future of the state of Kosovo. And as such, it is unacceptable even in conversation, at the table and generally”, Baraliu says.

Even Vetevendosje Movement officials, the largest opposition party, have said that the Association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo is unmet. Xhelal Svechla, from this party, at a media conference Saturday, said this political subject would defend the Constitutional Court's decision in 2015.

The “on the matter that association is currently not only unconstitutional is also implacable. All of Kosovo's people already know that this agreement is harmful to Kosovo and its future. It is the Constitutional Court's decision, and it is very well that decision”, Svechla said.

The immediate reaction was to Democratic League of Kosovo President Isa Mustafa, who said these statements by Vetevendosje officials for Association suggest they agree that the association be formed under the agreement reached in Brussels.

In 2015, Kosovo and Serbia reached agreement on the principles for the establishment of this association. In October the same year, this agreement was sent for interpretation at the Constitutional Court of Kosovo by then Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga.

The Constitutional Court, in the ruling issued in December 2015, said the Agreement for Association on 23 points is not in line with the Kosovo Constitution.

The court had ascertained that the Association of Serb-run municipalities would be established, as envisioned with the first Brussels Agreement (of 2013), ratified by the Kosovo Assembly and proclaimed by the president of the Republic of Kosovo (v.j. Atifete Jahjaga, while the Agreement on Principles (for the establishment of Association, reached in 2015), is not entirely in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution.

The Constitutional Court had found that the judicial act of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and the statute that implements principles to be in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution must meet constitutional standards.