Knowers: Serbian Constitutional List Anxiety Unfounded

There is no legal basis that imposes Kurti Government on another Serbian List minister. So say connoisseurs of legal cases in the country, following the Serbian List's complaint at the Constitutional Court.

The executive director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, Ehat Miftaraj, says the privileges Serbian List has gained in the past have not been based on the Constitution.

He says Prime Minister Albin Kurti has shared ministries for non-US communities, as the Constitution envisions.

The Constitutional Court certainly has to assess whether their demand is in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo, if it is in accordance with Ahtisaari's plan, which promotes the rights and freedoms of non-partisan communities in Kosovo. However, given the fact that the privileges that the Serbian List has benefited from in the past is not that they have been based on the Constitution or on any other international document that Kosovo has the obligation to implement and political agreements may be ad-hop, or agreements that may be applicable to a specific coalition based on what has happened from the declaration of independence around”, he says.

For the Constitutional Court, according to Miftaright, it will be difficult to task the Kurti Government to provide more than one ministry for the Serbian List.

The “in the concrete case will be very difficult for the Constitutional Court to adopt or force the Kurti Government to offer more than a ministry for the Serbian List. The three ministries that have been divided into the Kurti Government are divided for communities not majority in Kosovo, as the Constitution predicts, just as they envision international obligations in Kosovo, but not that the two ministries for the Serbian List” are taxively, he points out.

Even Rhese Hoxha from the Council for Jury and Political (GLSP) says the division of ministries for non-multiful communities has been clarified with the Constitution.

It disclosed that Article 96 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo also defines the composition of ministries and representation of communities.

 We at GLSP think that is very clear. This is adjusted to Article 96 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, which, respectively, shows the composition of ministries and representation of communities. It's paragraph 3 of this article, which says that without considering the number of ministries if it is less than 12, a minister should be from the Serb community and one of the other non-communal communities. While in the event that the Kosovo government will have more than 12 ministries, then even a mission should meet one of the non-communal communities. So, in this case the Constitution does not specifically define the Serb community, but says also a minister belongs to the non-US community. So this should be decided within the mandate and under coalition agreements that could create”, she says.

According to her, this is explained in the following paragraph, which shows the makeup of government in the ministerial section.

“This situation is clarified even with the following paragraph, which shows the composition of the government at the ministerial section, which says that in the situation where we have fewer than 12 ministries, 2 deputy ministers belong to the Serb community, 2 other communities, not the majority. However, if we have more than 12 ministries then another deputy minister belongs to the non-US community. Thus, it is not necessarily said to meet the Serb community. Therefore, not necessarily the current government is obliged to reserve this post for the Serb community”, she adds.

The fact that the Serbian List in the past has had more than one ministry, according to her, is no constitutional violation.

She says both options are open, since the Constitution does not specify which non-communal community should meet this position.

“Based on the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, Article 96, paragraph 3, in the government will be at least one minister from the Serb community, and a minister from other non-communities communities in Kosovo.

“In Government will be at least one (1) minister from the Serb community and one (1) minister from some other non-communist community in Kosovo. If there are more than twelve ministers, the government will also have a third minister, who represents one of the non-communal communities in Kosovo.

There will be at least two (2) deputy ministers from the Kosovo Serb community and two (2) deputy ministers from other non-s majority communities in Kosovo. If there are more than 12 (12) ministers, the government will also have a third deputy minister who represents the Serb community, and another (1) the deputy minister, who represents one of the other non-communal communities in Kosovo”, says at Article 96 of the Constitution.

On Monday, the Serbian List has filed complaints to the Constitutional Court against the Kurti Government, arguing that it has divided only one ministry.