Kosovo will hold the next parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025. Not a few people have seen the statements made recently about the Association as a delay of the topic until after the elections. And the final solution has never been reached. The association was updated on October 29, when the head of the Kosovar executive, Albin Kurti, told the media that, as the prime minister of a democratic republic, he cannot form associations of municipalities
The issue of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo is one of the few topics that is discussed almost every week and that makes news every time. Everyone has attitudes about it and comments on it. For this, agreements have been reached and proposals have been compiled. But the final solution was never reached. The association was updated on October 29, when the head of the Kosovar executive, Albin Kurti, told the media that, as prime minister of a democratic republic, he cannot form associations of municipalities.
“Municipalities associate with each other, coordinate, cooperate. You already know that we have an Association of Kosovo Municipalities. If someone wants another association, then this should come from the municipalities… if the prime minister were to establish an association of municipalities, this would be an imposition on the municipalities”.
WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?
Despite the fact that Kurti made these statements, he has been involved in the past in discussions about the establishment of the Association. According to the expert on political issues, Agon Maliqi, Kurti, as prime minister, cannot escape this responsibility. “The manner in which the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority will be created is foreseen through the Agreement on Association and the decision of the Constitutional Court – which, as a result, have created a political, but also legal obligation for the Government to send the statute [of the Association] for consideration”, he said. Maliqi, in some written answers for Radio Free Europe. Maliqi considers that in this case it is not about an association like the existing one of the municipalities, “but a body of a new model and with additional powers, which must be added to the legal order, and which therefore requires regulation and inclusion of all existing levels of power”.
Meanwhile, Toby Vogel from the Council for Democratization Policies in Brussels told Radio Free Europe that the statement of the Prime Minister of Kosovo is insincere. According to him, “it has always been up to Pristina to create the conditions for the formation of the Association, but always according to a certain context”. “Kosovo continues to be under the measures of the European Union, while Serbia has not faced any consequences for Banjska, or for rejecting the Ohrid Agreement. Why, then, would Kurt change his position in this situation? There is no electoral or diplomatic benefit for him, if he agrees to form the Association”.
HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATION
Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on the formation of the Association in 2013 and another agreement on the principles in 2015. However, the Government of Kosovo refuses to form, as it says, a mono-ethnic association, while Serbia insists on the implementation of the agreement. In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo assessed that the agreement on principles is not in accordance with the Constitution in its 23 points, although they can be harmonized. The United States and the European Union constantly insist that Kosovo send to the Constitutional Court a draft statute for the Association, which was presented by the West in October last year.
Asked to comment on Kurti’s statement, the spokeswoman for the European Union, Nabila Massrali, told Radio Free Europe that the establishment of the Association is a legal obligation for Kosovo, according to international law.
According to her, the fact that the agreements for the Association were reached within the dialogue, “means that each proposal must be discussed with Serbia and the EU mediator”. Even in the EU Progress Report for Kosovo, the lack of steps towards the establishment of the Association has been mentioned as an obstacle in the process of normalization between neighboring countries. The US Department of State has told Radio Free Europe that the Brussels dialogue has offered practical solutions, “which will promote the rights of all citizens of Kosovo, including those of Serbs in the north of Kosovo”, therefore it has call for the implementation of agreements, including the one for the Association. Radio Evropa e Lire asked the Government of Kosovo to further clarify Kurti’s position, but did not receive an answer.PRIORITY: BASIC AGREEMENT
In the statement before the journalists, Kurti insisted on signing the Basic Agreement – a reference to an agreement for the normalization of relations, reached between Kosovo and Serbia in 2023. In one of its points, it envisages that the Serbian community in Kosovo be offered a level designated self-management. Agon Maliqi believes that without Kosovo sending the draft statute for the Association to the Constitutional Court, “it can hardly see the benefits foreseen by the Brussels and Ohrid agreements”.
The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, has asked for security guarantees if the internationals insist on the formation of the Association, even after “Serbia’s withdrawal from the Basic Agreement”. The European envoy for the dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak, has stated that Serbia has withdrawn the letter sent by the former Prime Minister Ana Bërnabiq, with which it had come out against the Basic Agreement. Serbia itself has not declared publicly.
“MANEUVER TO REMOVE THE PRESSURE BEFORE THE ELECTIONS”
Kosovo will hold the next parliamentary elections on February 9, 2025. Not a few people have seen the statements made recently about the Association as a delay of the topic until after the elections. Agon Maliqi among them. “I see the Prime Minister’s statements as, simply, temporary maneuvers to remove the pressure before the elections”. Toby Vogel, meanwhile, warned of increased pressure on the next Government. According to him, if Kurti wins the elections, “he will not be able to endlessly present new reasons why the Association cannot be formed”.
He said that the best way would be if Kurti would explain to the communities why in the current situation some dialogue agreements have remained suspended, and that at the same time Kosovo should make it clear to its partners that Serbia should also be held responsible for the actions of himself. “The whole process must be unblocked, not just the impasse for the Association”, he stressed. Looking at the current situation, Vogel estimated that it is difficult for anyone to deal with the Association immediately after the elections. (FRE)
