Stano: The new proposal for establishing association is balanced

The European Union is awaiting the parties -- in this case of Kosovo and Serbia -- to move forward on the European proposal, which, according to them, is in principle accepted by the parties and the same must be implemented without preconditions. What Kosovo is being asked at this stage is the statute for the Association of Serb municipalities. EU officials stress that the new proposal for establishing association is balanced.

A new European proposal for advancing implementation of the Agreement on the Road to Normalisation is already on the Kosovo and Serbia table. What Kosovo is urgently asked for has been the establishment of the Serb-run municipality Association. However, the content that has been handed over to the parties continues to be a secret. Prime Minister Albin Kurti also spoke about it during the report in the Parliament on dialogue, where he said he was asked not to speak in detail. According to him, however, the draft is in line with the Kosovo Constitution.

This draft has been declared for RTK with European Union officials. EU spokesman Peter Stano stresses that at the 26 October meeting in Brussels, the parties have accepted the European leaders' proposal.

“They submitted a new balanced European proposal for establishing the Communist Association and insisted that the parties begin implementing it. This would advance the normalisation process and ease the risk of escalation and new violence. At the meeting, the parties signalled the provisional readiness to accept this European proposal, but both had preconditions to be unacceptable by the other side. We expect this readiness to lead to implementation without further delays. The preconditions are not acceptable”, Stano said.

On the other side of some media in Kosovo are published material in which they are allegedly part of the proposed Association draft, but the same are exposed by government officials. While the EU says the document delivered is not public.

The EU's “Proposal has not been made public as diplomatic efforts are under way and we never pass official documents under discussion, as it is normal practice in international mediation. It is also our old policy not to comment on supposed leaks or media reports claiming to have seen or published the document”, Stano added.

Furthermore, the EU stresses that both sides will be assessed on their individual implementation performance.