European Models That Can Be Used for Zajednica

Pressure on Kosovo to form the Association of Serb majority municipalities has increased, and not rarely by the international community have said there are different models in Europe, which could be applied even in the case of association.

The last to mention these models was the United States Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar.

He said on August 5th, during a conversation with journalists, that practices that protect the heritage and native language of minorities without violating the Constitution of the state where they live could probably be used “guide to implement the association”.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached agreement on Association in 2013, under the dialogue mediated by the European Union. Two years later, agreement on the principles for establishing this association has also been reached.

But, the Constitutional Court has said some provisions of the agreement are not in harmony with the Constitution and has added that they can be harmonised with sublaw acts by the Government of Kosovo.

Serbia insists that association be formed and requires that there be executive competencies, but the Kosovo government opposes a single-ethnic association.

What do you see about Association?
The association of Serb majority municipalities is designed to gather about ten municipalities in Kosovo inhabited by Serb majority: Northern Mitrovica, Klokot, Partesh, Ranilug, Gracanica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, Novoberda, Leposaviq and Shrpca.

Under the agreements, the Association aims to represent the collective interests of these municipalities, separately in the field of education, health, urban and rural planning, as well as the economy.

The 2013 agreement on Association emphasises that it will be created by its statutes and structures, on the basis of the Kosovo municipalities' Association statute.

It also says that the association will exercise additional responsibilities, depending on how they are delegated by the central authorities and that there will be a role of representation in central authorities.

Under the 2015 agreement on principles to create association, the main objectives of association are: exercise a full look at the development of the local economy; exercise a thorough look at the principles of education; exercise a full look at the improvement of local primary and secondary health and social care; exercise a full look at the co-ordination of urban and rural planning; adopts measures for improving the local living conditions for returnees in Kosovo; develops, co-ordinates, facilitates research and development activities; promotes, distributes, and accons of common interest to its members; and the central authorities include them; and other local co-operation, local municipalities; and others.

Some European states have different regulations regarding minority rights, ranging from linguistic and cultural rights, as well as other responsibilities, such as order and tax collection.

But European analysts say a model for Association should be based on Kosovo's demographic structure and political context.
Swiss Model
Marko Prelec, senior analyst in the International Crisis Group, tells Radio Free Europe that while there are many European practices regarding minority rights, the question is which models are appropriate for Kosovo.

The first example he mentions, which could also apply to Kosovo is that of Switzerland, which consists of 26 cantons.

In the context of good reports and low tensions, you can look at examples like Swiss cantons, which are largely self-government, to the point that they are responsible for the external borders of Switzerland. When you get to the airport, you go through the canton police checks, so there's no Swiss police. So all cantons have responsibility for external borders on behalf of the Swiss Confederacy”, Prelec says.

In Switzerland, in addition to law enforcement, cantons have power and responsibility in the field of health, welfare, education and tax collection.

Prelec also shows that in some Spanish regions, such as Catalonia, they have special police forces, along with national ones. Catalonia is a region that has autonomous status and that for a long time demands independence from official Madrid.

Even in the first Association Agreement, 2013, it was preceded that four municipalities in northern Kosovo (North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq) be a Serb from Kosovo. Meanwhile, only members of the Serb community have been detained in police facilities ever since.

According to Bodo Weber, senior associate of the Berlin Democratic Policy Council, the collective rights of the Serb community in Kosovo, which the Association has said would enable, are also in the Ahtisaari Pack, which has preceded Kosovo's declaration of independence.

“Sic said in the past as well, solutions [to Association] should be based on the principles of the Ahtisaari Plan, linking collective rights with local self-government, which is the Scandinavian model for democracy and decentralisation, and which opposes the post-Yugoslav tradition of authoritarian decentralisation”, he tells Radio Free Europe.

The Scandinavian model referred to by Weber applies in Belgium with regard to minority rights, including the use of their native language in schooling in communities where these minorities live.

wide rights for minorities in Finland
But advanced models of minority rights, in language and cultural protection, are also available in Nordic states, such as Finland.

Swedishs living in Finland have the right to use their own language in schools, but the use of their dialects is also protected in the communities in which they live.

But, as Prelec points out, in this country there is also the Aland region, which has broader autonomy and local communities have official Swedish languages, and other responsibilities.

The local community decides whether people from other parts of Finland can move there that is a very broad force of responsibility given to a community”, he says.

As far as language is being used, in Kosovo the official language is also Serbian.

Language rights of minorities in Italy
Italy is also an example of some minority rights regulations. Of the 20 regions, in Italy there are five regions with autonomous status. These regions, regardless of this status, are still part of Italy, but enjoy greater control of the internal arrangement, starting in the language but also in the tax collection.

One of them is the Trentino-Alto Adage region, where German-speaking minority lives, but also other language minorities. This region, according to Preleci, has very complicated language rules, and official language is Italian and German.

“The representation is structured, given demographic balances between German-speaking and Italian-speaking. Italian regions, as well, have different tax collection responsibilities, and only one of them has full responsibility for collecting taxes on their territory”, he says.

In these Italian regions, too, apply mixed tax collection systems, where most of them go to central governance and central governance decides for their spending on projects in these areas.

In this context, the Association Agreement also envisions this organ dealing with the development of local economy and other campaigns, including health and education.

Prelec adds that all these models can function if policies are created that enable Serbs to choose their own representatives rather than be, as he says, delegated by Belgrade.

But he warns that not necessarily these examples would be a good idea for Kosovo.

“are more evidence that you can probably do and at the same time maintain the integrity of the state. It is possible to become almost anything when there is political will, but now there is no political will”, he says.

But, Weber, it's more pessimistic about association. He says that, despite having multiple models in Europe, none will solve” the problem of association.

He says there are many aspects in association, which are problematic and the first of the order, as he calls it,“nationalist post-Yugoslav trafficking to territorialise ethnic issues”.

“This changes all discussions on the rights of citizens) and secondly, the fact that the 2013 Association Agreement has served as a cover for Belgrade to start selling to Serbs in northern Kosovo that it has begun to acknowledge the fact of independent Kosovo”, he says.

Kosovo wants developmental, nonethnic models
As nine years have passed since the signing of the first agreement on Association, the international community constantly urges Kosovo to implement this agreement and has said it will not impose models on Pristina.

As for models of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, during an interview given Radio Free Europe on August 8th, said he is interested in models, which are developmental.

However, association according to ethnic criteria does not pass the test of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and of the universal democratic universalistic principle”, Kurti said.

See also the interview that Free Europe Radio conducted with Kosovo Prime Minister Ablin Kurti on August 8, 2022.

Meanwhile, both Prelec and Weber say that association from the beginning has been used by Belgrade as part of a propaganda, to bring “mapped” Serbs that it would grant greater autonomy.
Prelec says the agreements for Association have not been based on granting autonomy, or creating a structure like Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Meanwhile, Weber says discussions on executive competencies for Association ʹ the desire expressed by Serbian officials in Belgrade demonstrate the essence of the problem of these issues.

There can be no agreement for Association without solving structural problems behind it. This in the first place implies that the only way to reach an agreement is a serious resumption of political dialogue, stemming from high levels in Washington, Berlin and Paris”.

And this format discusses the status issue and makes it clear from the start that the final and comprehensive agreement concerns Serbia's acceptance of the independence reality of Kosovo and recognising it. Only within this framework can a solution be found for Association”, he says.

Despite Prelec says that given the control Serbia has over the Serbian List ʹ the main party of Serbs in Kosovo for granting extended rights, which he also calls a kind of autonomous status for the Serb community, at this time is hard to talk about. But, he says extended rights are necessary in Kosovo.

And personally, the idea of Association, I don't think it's been a good idea since the beginning, and I'm not sure it's going to be fully realized. I think there is a need for a kind of autonomous status for the Kosovo Serb community that fully protects Kosovo's integrity as a state and the sovereignty of Kosovo”, he says.

Prelec doubts that association can ever be fully realised, due to poor reports between Kosovo and Serbia. But if reports improve, he says some of the European examples that have given greater responsibilities to specific communities can be taken on the basis.

However, Kosovo has consistently rejected the idea of an autonomy for Serbs, who have said it could be presented as a Republika Srpska, meanwhile Escobar on August 5th said that association should not be contrary to the Kosovo Constitution and should not create “states within the state”.