Lajcak Escobar expected to discuss Association in Kosovo

However, they say it still remains unknown to civil society, but also to the public as a whole, what are the models for forming association, which are offered to the Government of Kosovo for review, which US Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Havenier mentioned during an interview with the public servant, Radio Television of Kosovo.

There are models, which we think can work and encourage the Government of Kosovo to examine those models and examine that issue”, Houvenier said, without specifying these models.

The Kosovo government, so far, has not provided any details regarding models for forming association. Meanwhile, Serbian authorities have stressed that the only model for Association is under agreements reached in 2013 and 2015 in the Brussels dialogue.

The association of Serb majority municipalities has long been an obstacle to Kosovo-Serbia's dialogue on normalising relations between the two sides. The agreement was reached for its formation in Brussels in 2013 as part of a dialogue mediated by the European Union.

Two years later, reconciliation was reached in Brussels regarding the principles for forming association, which the Constitutional Court of Kosovo in December 2015 praised as not fully complying with the spirit of the Constitution. On the basis of that Constitutional Court decision, it is controversial that the Community is not based on multiethnicity, but it gathers municipalities in which an ethnic community is a majority, in this case the Serb community.

Following the court's ruling, Kosovo authorities refuse to implement the agreement, with the argument that association is harmful, while the Serb side has insisted on implementing the agreement and has repeatedly demanded that this issue be raised for discussion again in the dialogue.

Last year, a high-level political dialogue, currently led by Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq, was held only twice. Besides conflicting statements, there has been no concrete progress.

Hajoll: Civil society without information on models for Association

Violet Hajoll from the Kosovo Democratic Institute tells Radio Free Europe that so far, in addition to US Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier's statement, where he has mentioned that there are models for forming the Association of Serb majority municipalities, civil society has no information about what models it is about.

However, I believe that what is important in the US ambassador's statement is that he has consistently stressed that the association will not have executive competence, that no one is interested in creating a new Serbian Republic in Kosovo, that Kosovo's unitary constitutional integrity and system is guaranteed. This is very important for the Government of Kosovo as long as it decides to consider the issue of association”, Hajoll says.

Radakoviq: Models for Association will feature Escobar and Lajcak

Dusan Radakovic, executive director of the Centre for Democratic Culture representation from Northern Mitrovica, says that, according to his sources from Kosovo and Serbia, models for forming the Association of Serb majority municipalities will be introduced to authorities in Kosovo and Serbia on the part of the special American envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar and by the EU Special Representative for Kosovo Dialogue Miroslav Lajcak.

Earlier, the US State Department Office for Europe and Eurasia confirmed that Escobar and Lajcak will be in Kosovo and Serbia from January 30th to February 4th.

As it has been said, the aim of their visit is to encourage leaders in Pristina and Belgrade to normalise relations through facilitated dialogue and implement reforms on the road to EU integration.

The two (Escobar and Lajcak) will present some modalities, which will be acceptable to both American and European institutions, so the model of Association, and then it remains both sides whether they will accept it or not, Radakovic says of Radio Free Europe.

He added that he does not want “to speculate on proposals for a model of the Serb majority municipalities' association”.

Hovenier, who has been nominated to the Kosovo authorities to consider forming the Association of Serb majority municipalities. But, until the publication of this text, Kosovo Government officials have not returned answers.

In Kosovo there are a total of ten Serb-run municipalities -- six south of Ibrit Gracanica, Shtrpca, Novoberda, Ranillug, Partesh and Klokoti -- while four municipalities in the north whose territories are linked to North Mitrovica, Leposaviqi, Zubin Potok and Zvecani.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has, in some cases, linked the formation of the Serb majority municipalities with the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, adding that he would not allow its forming with executive power because it would lead to “the functioning of the state”.

Serbian authorities: Association Only Under Brussels Agreement

Meanwhile, from the Office for Kosovo of the Government of Serbia, they have not provided precise answers to the Radio Free Europe question, if Serbia's authorities have been introduced any new model for forming association, but have said that in the agreements reached so far in Brussels on forming Association, the only model of the existence of the Serb majority municipalities, as achieved by the Belgrade, Pristina and the EU”.

“Belgrade strongly adheres to the international principle ʹPacta servanda~ (Agreements should be respected)”, says in a written response from the Office for Kosovo of the Government of Serbia, in which it has been added that the issue of forming association has been defined with the 2013 and 2015 agreements.

The “is meant for the first six points of the Brussels Agreement and 22 provisions of general parliaments, which clearly define the existence of the structure, goals, executive competencies, as well as the competencies of the Association of Serb majority municipalities”, have said by the Office for Kosovo of the Government of Serbia.

“Association, among Escobar and Lajcak” requests

Hajoll estimates that during Escobar and Lajcak's warned visit to Pristina, four topics could be addressed with Kosovo authorities. Continue Kosovo- Serbia, after recently marked impasse, will be one of the topics, assessing Hajoli, under which dialogue supporters -- the EU and the US -- are demanding that political high-level meetings between Kosovo and Serbia be held as soon as possible.

The second topic, according to her, may be the issue of Serbia's parliamentary and presidential elections, held on April 3rd and the Government of Kosovo will be required to review possible modalities for Kosovo Serbs' vote, but that those modalities respect Kosovo's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The third topic, according to her, may be the implementation of the Constitutional Court's decision to return 24 hectares of land and mountain of the Decani Monastery. It will also discuss association.

“The fourth question may be that of association, as we have an act of Constitutional Court and an agreement that has not yet been implemented on this issue. These may be the four requirements that the European and American representatives may have for the Government of Kosovo. Very challenging, I believe, ma'am.

“A new package” from Escobar and Lajcak

Radakovic points out that forming association is allowed with Kosovo laws and that something like that is mentioned in the Ahtisaari Plan, the document under which Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and drafted the Constitution.

According to him, Albanian opinion has created a wrong image that association can be harmful to Kosovo and that it can become a new Serbian Republic.

“This is also the goal of Escobar and Lajcak, to explain that this is not the idea (the creation of Republika Srpska), so US Ambassador (in Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier) said yesterday and before there could be no new Serbian Republic in Kosovo. But rights (of communities) must be respected, as written in the Ahtisaari Plan, but also in Kosovo's laws and, above all, in the Law for Local Self-rule”, Radakovic points out.

He adds that Escobar and Lajcak, “are bringing a new package, which may be more attractive to Kosovo, namely for (Prime Minister Albin) Kurtin, than it has so far been”.

What does the Brussels Agreement for Association foresee?

In the first Brussels Agreement, 2013, for principles regulating relations between Kosovo and Serbia, the first six points refer to the Association of Serb-run municipalities.

In that agreement it is written that this association will be founded on the basis of the statute, and that its dissolution can only be done with the decisions of participating municipalities.

Two years after the signing of the first Brussels agreement, Kosovo and Serbia also signed an agreement on the Association of Serb Majority municipalities, which harmonised general principles and key elements.

The 2015 agreement consists of 22 provisions, which specify the legal framework, objectives, organisational structure, relations with central authorities, budget and support for the Association of Serb-run municipalities.

This agreement envisions the Association of Serb majority municipalities being established as envisioned in the first Agreement, with the Law for ratification of the first agreement and the laws of Kosovo.

Some of the goals are mentioned: strengthening local democracy; carrying out full oversight for the development of the local economy; carrying out full supervision in the field of education; providing full supervision to its members in primary and secondary health and social care; conducting full oversight in co-ordinating urban and rural planning; providing services to its members in line with Kosovo laws.

Under the Brussels Agreement, the Association of Serb majority municipalities must have a Assembly, a chairman representing association before the central and outside Kosovo authorities, a deputy chairman, a council, a board, an administration, an office for complaints, while it would have to be determined by the statute.

The main issue about establishing association is that of its competencies.

In December 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that these principles for Association were not fully in harmony with the spirit of the Constitution, mentioned in Article 3, for “in the pre-law” and key “chapters and freedoms”, and “the rights of communities and their members”.

With this Constitutional Court ruling, it was determined that the Association of Serb majority municipalities would be established just as it envisions Brussels' first agreement, ratified by the Kosovo Assembly.