Stano: EU willing to facilitate discussions on association at future dialogue meetings

The European Union said it is willing to facilitate discussions on the Association of Serb-run municipalities within the dialogue in Brussels. An EU spokesman, Peter Stano, told RTV21 that any proposals the parties may have on the issue of association should be made within the dialogue. Stano responded to Prime Minister Kurti's six-point request for the creation of the Serb-based municipality Association.

“We have taken into account the comments of Prime Minister Kurti regarding the Association/Unition of Serbian municipalities in the Kosovo Assembly on February 2nd. The forum to discuss the establishment of the Association/Unibility of Serbian municipalities, as well as any proposal that may have both sides, is within the framework of the” dialogue, Stano said.

“The EU is ready to facilitate discussions on Association/Unibility at future dialogue meetings”, Stano told Rtv21.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti, at a presentation in the Kosovo Assembly, presented six points for the possibility of establishing association, after a long period of refusal to address the problem. International table has urged the prime minister to consider the possibility of founding association. In the presentation in the Parliament, Prime Minister Kurti listed the conditions:

1. The association will take place in line with the Kosovo Constitution and the laws in force.

2. The association cannot be monoethnic, it must change its name, there can be no public (or executive) power, and it should serve only horizontal co-operation of municipalities under the Constitution and the law on local self-government (head 5).

3. National minorities' rights should include the principle of reciprocity between the two states, as well as take into account European standards and models.

4. Before the establishment of the Association, illegal structures in the north are wiped out and delivered to all illegal weapons.

5. The association is part of the final agreement and applies after mutual recognition and after Serbia has accepted the principles of the UN charter in relation to Kosovo.

6. Serbia's president draws the letters sent to the five EU member states and others for refusing to apply the Republic of Kosovo for EU membership, which also poses violations of the same Thaci-Dacic agreement on April 19th 2013.

The international community, in particular the US, pressured the Government of Kosovo to start implementing the agreement to establish the Association of Serb-based municipalities, but said the decision of the 2015 Constitutional Court and the Constitution of Kosovo should be implemented in this process. US special envoy Gabriel Escobar, meanwhile, has said in his presentation that the agreement for association is a legal obligation between Kosovo and Serbia, not between Kurti and Serbia”.

US Ambassador to Pristina Jeffrey Hovenier, meanwhile, has launched consultations with representatives of civil society, political parties and Kosovo institutions on the issue of association.