Bajrami: Kosovo wrong to enter dialogue, association is legal obligation

One of the authors of the Kosovo Constitution, university professor Arsim Bajrami, is considering that Kosovo made a mistake in deciding to enter into dialogue with Serbia.

He says political parties should put party interests aside and create a consensus on dialogue with Serbia.

I'm just responsible for the failures in dialogue, since I was part of institutions, even though I had competence in dialogue. Dialogue is a very controversial story. Kosovo after International Court of Justice ( IN 2010, which confirmed the legitimacy and legitimacy of the declaration of independence was not to enter any dialogue. We have had to insist that we have the JND decision, our independence is legitimate and we can talk to Serbia only after mutual recognition and solve technical problems one by one. That's what happened, but we're in a dialogue, which I call a dead end”, has stressed Bajrami in RTK.

He has said that the dialogue launched today as technical in 2017 does not have an end, and according to him has even changed the context because from a concept of a dialogue for final agreements, it has deviated from the concept of normalisation of relations.

Bajrami has deemed the pressures being put on Kosovo unjust by the international factor that it now allows an association, which according to him “basic to the Ohrid Agreement, and Brussels has essential and visible elements of an autonomy, perhaps not formal but an actual autonomy, which in the future could affect both sovereignty and integrity and the unitar” character.

All governments have made mistakes, but the main mistake is that this dialogue is not rejected. This topic is not electoral and it is a disaster for Kosovo citizens if parties put the question of dialogue as the electoral cause. This is a topic where all political parties must sacrifice from party interests, build a consensus and set up a point to form an association. This is a legal obligation. To take a draft of either their own or this of the Franco-German plan to the Constitutional Court and make sure, because the Constitutional Court removes responsibility”, Bajrami has underlined.

Speaking of April 9th, the Constitutional Day, Bajrami has said that this day has meaning and a message.

By the time it was adopted as a state holiday I was minister of Public Administration and I was sponsor of the Law for State Holidays. I've been negotiating a lot about this party and it's come as a replacement for November 28th Flag Day. My idea has been that this day practically be a reflection of Kosovo's journey towards citizenship and independence, or a day of thanks for all martyrs and contributors who fell for the ideal of the state and independence of Kosovo”, Bajrami stressed.

He has said that the Constitution's Day, except for a day of reflection on the role of this highest judicial act, is also the day of commemoration of the difficult road of the state of Kosovo, so that the new generations born after liberation can understand what course and universal sacrifice has been passed to come to the day of independence and the day of the constitution.

That 16-year period of Constitution has assessed it as very successful, but also with many challenges.

The state of Kosovo has been a moment not only for Albanians but it has been a global event, because it has been born a state after a sacrifice of a people and after a genocide. At that time, it has been welcomed by the entire democratic world because Serbia's efforts to destroy Albanians as a nation were seen to burn Kosovo and bring down the motive for living in Kosovo. But immediately a people in co-operation with the international community and NATO managed to recover and proclaim the Kosovo Constitution. This Constitution has preserved its statehood or creative state. It has that epithet and has then enabled the construction of the full state structure”, Bajrami added.

However, he has said that we should also be self - critical and view reality, for during this period no small violation of the Constitution has been made.

“We've had three main challenges of the Constitution in the last 16 years. No doubt the first challenge has been its expansion in northern Kosovo, or the extent of Kosovo's full sovereignty in the north, and unfortunately to this day we have no functional structures on the basis of this constitution. The second challenge has been violations of the Constitution. As a new state, we have faced serious violations of the Constitution by all state institutions. Initially, parliament has adopted many constitutional laws. Then we have two presidents left for violations of the different natures of the Constitution. We've had political crises, delays in forming institutions, collapses of government, etc. So, we've had a lot of conflicting situations that have shown that we still need to work and build constitutional and judicial culture and democratise institutions so that they can emancipate what role the constitution has and understand at the end of the day that democracy is fully respected by the Constitution and procedures it envisions”, Bajrami has underlined.