The government's no-confidence motion to avoid consequences from the West?

Lajcak and Escobar, on May 6th, met with leaders of three opposition parties in Kosovo, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).

As those parties' officials say, at the meeting with Western diplomats, they have discussed the current crisis in northern Kosovo and Western demands on the Government of Kosovo to emerge from the situation created there.

Knowing the political developments, Arton Demhay from the non-governmental organisation Movement Cohu, believes Lajcak and Escobar have also discussed alternative opportunities to get out of the situation.

The crisis in the north, but also in Kosovo's reports with Western partners, has started as a result of the actions of Kosovo authorities, who with police assistance have enabled access to municipal facilities in Zubin Potok, Leposaviq and Zvecan of the new Albanian mayors on May 26th.

They have been rejected by Serbian citizens in northern Kosovo municipalities who have boycotted the April 23rd elections for mayors of these municipalities. The objections have been manifested by protests, which have resulted in the clashes of protesters with the Kosovo Police, but even more KFOR members in Zvecan on May 29th, where there were several dozen injured by both sides.

Lajcak and Escobar, during their recent visit to Kosovo on June 5th and 6th, have asked Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to calm the situation in northern Kosovo, hold new elections in the four northern municipalities, as well as return to dialogue on normalising Kosovo-Serbia relations.

Both Western diplomats have said that in terms of these requirements, they expect a response from Prime Minister Kurti by Friday.

Both emissaries have also visited Belgrade and have asked Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq to calm the situation in northern Kosovo, as well as to influence Serbian citizens there to participate in the new local elections.

The “consequences have been talked to superficially”
Vlora Citaku, deputy chairman of the largest opposition party, The PDK, the PDK tells Radio Free Europe that meeting with Lajcak and Ecobarin has been regular. The meeting, according to her, has been in the spirit of informing about current political developments in Kosovo, as well as “for raising concerns alarms for heavy reports between Kosovo and its allies”.

Whether Kurti has spoken about the eventual measures the EU and the US can take against Kosovo if Kurti does not accept the demands of Western partners, Citaku has not specified what eventual measures have been discussed.

The “is only spoken superficially. Of course we have demanded that Kosovo not suffer because of one man. Kosovo is bigger than an individual and does not belong to one man, and Kosovo should not pay the price of amateur and adventured behaviour of Prime Minister Kurti”, says Citaku.

LDK Deputy Chairman Lutfi Haziri, in a conversation with Radio Free Europe, stresses that at the meeting with Lajcak and Escobar, concerns about the situation in the country's north and the stalemate created in Kosovo Government reports with Western partners. He says not much has been spoken about the possible consequences for Kosovo if Prime Minister Kurti does not accept the demands of these partners.

This confrontation of international mediator and American envoy is with this part [Kosovo government] because they are the main carriers. They are the primary responsible, and in this case they will bear the main consequences. And we rejoice that there will be no collective consequences”, he says.

Even Haziri did not specify what eventual consequences might be involved.

AAK: Initiating no-confidence motion against government
Alliance for the Future of Kosovo leader Ramush Haradinaj on Wednesday, 7 June, has voiced opinion before the media that the actions of the Kosovo Government should occur within the deadline set by Western partners.

On the contrary, he said the opposition has the necessary number to initiate the no-confidence motion against the Kosovo government.

The “model is the right solution, it's democracy and it would be useful for the entire political spectrum, including the ruling majority. The votes are. The opposition has the number needed to initiate motion”, Haradinaj said.

Demhaya: No-confidence motion may be co-ordinated
Political process recogniser Arton Demhayan from Movement Arise tells Radio Free Europe that there is no exception for the possibility that at the meeting of Lajcak and Escobar with opposition party representatives, Kurti's no-confidence motion has been discussed.

He believes such an idea is in line with US envoy's statement to the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, who said on June 6th that he does not support an individual who “does not have a co-operation instinct”, alluding to Prime Minister Kurti.

There could also be a kind of threat to the government that if you don't move, then we find other partners and we can walk away and the situation doesn't remain blocked. So, even the initiative of the AAK's no-confidence motion, I don't think it's lame, but it can just be like something coordinated with Americans”, Demhasaj says.

Opposition split for motion
The initialisation of the no-confidence motion against the government requires the votes of 40 Kosovo Assembly deputies. To pass such a motion are at least 61 MPs' votes needed, down from the total number of 120 MPs as long as Kosovo's Assembly does.

Currently, the ruling Vetevendosje Movement has 57 deputies in the Assembly. By opposition parties, The PDK has 18 deputies, the LDK has 16, meanwhile, the AAK has eight deputies. All three parties together have 42 deputies, which is enough to initiate a no-confidence motion against the executive.

The multiethnic parliamentary group has eight deputies, meanwhile, 13 others are without parliamentary groups, where they make five and nine deputies of the Serbian List -- the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo -- who enjoys official Belgrade's support.

AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj has stated that there are also MPs who are part of the parliamentary majority and abroad who can vote on the government's no-confidence motion.

But, PDK deputy chairman Vlora Citaku, says the opposition parties really have about 40 votes together and they should not now focus on the small <x0).

She says Prime Minister Kurti should reflect and co-ordinate further steps with Western partners.

“The PDK will use all political and parliamentary instruments to prevent the prime minister [the Kurti] from ruining Kosovo's Euro-Atlantic future”, she says, without specifying whether to support it The PDK a eventual no-confidence motion against the government.

LDK Deputy Chairman Lutfi Haziri says the situation, under current circumstances, is not in the interest of the government's no-confidence motion.

The opposition's “position is very short in demand that former Prime Minister Haradianj has initiated as AAK chairman. It is a certain number of MPs that may issue the motion, but that the motion ends in debate and without success. The LDK is not interested in entering a motion without success”, Haziri points out.

Is the opposition waiting for the moment for the motion?
But, Arton Demhay from Movement Arise, says the AAK's initiative for a no-confidence motion against the Government, however, has not been in vain. According to him, similar situations, when opposition parties have claimed they do not support a motion, have happened even before, until the day the motion entered the Assembly.

So they don't accept it in advance. Maybe they're actually looking at the current situation, as far as the Government can go and whether or not it is reflecting on the demands of international partners. If there is reflection, then there may be no motion and no formal signatures needed to be collected. But if the Government does not reflect and respect the deadline international partners have given, then the motion takes the seriousness, signatures are collected and may soon go to the Assembly.

The American emissary, Gabriel Escobar, has stated that the deadline for receiving an answer from Prime Minister Kurti regarding the demands of Western partners does not imply ultimatum for the Government of Kosovo, but it is the deadline for it to report to the White House concerning the results of the visit to Kosovo and Serbia. The same day, European emissary Miroslav Lajcak will report to EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell.

However, during his stay in Belgrade on September 7th, Escobar said the situation in northern Kosovo should be tense immediately and that he does not want to wait until July for new elections.

He reiterated that forming the Association of Serb majority municipalities is “legal threat” for the Government of Kosovo, and that “if Kosovo wants to move forward with its integration, it should form the Asociation”.

The question is whether this will happen with this government or with the future government”, Escobar said.

The agreement on this association, Kosovo and Serbia have reached since 2013 under the dialogue on normalising relations, mediated by the EU.

But, despite the international community's continued calls to implement it, Kosovo has consistently refused with the argument that broad competencies of association would threaten the internal functionality of the state.