The Chairman of the Kosovo Assembly, Glauk Konjufca, said on Friday that the European Union “does not have the competence” to propose a draft statute to Kosovo for the formation of an Association of Serb-majority municipalities, although Kosovo authorities have already accepted such a principle, under the mediation of the bloc.
“I think the European Union does not have the competence to propose the Kosovo Association. It is a mistake to think that it is the EU’s competence to appoint us [a draft status for the Association], while it is our competence to send it to the Constitutional Court. I do not think it is the EU’s competence to propose a draft to Kosovo and for Kosovo to be ready to send the draft proposed by the EU. I disagree with this procedure,” said Konjufca.
Konjufca was responding to questions about the statement made by the US ambassador to Kosovo, Jeff Hovenier, who said that he advised the Government of Kosovo to seek the Constitutional Court’s opinion as soon as possible on a draft statute prepared last year by the West for the establishment of the Association.
“There will be an answer whether [the document] is constitutional or not, it will be known if it has executive competencies or not, and we believe that only the Court can make that assessment. Such a thing will create a different dynamic and will reflect Kosovo’s commitment to fulfill its obligations,” said Hovenier on Thursday during a conversation with journalists at the US Embassy building in Pristina.
Last October, Western diplomats presented Kosovo and Serbia with a draft statute for the formation of the Association, drafted by the EU, which the parties said they accepted.
Regarding this document, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, assured at the time that it was written “carefully and in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo”.
However, at the end of December, Kurti said that Kosovo should be the author of the statute and suggested that it should be written itself, in cooperation with his minister for Communities and Returns, Nenad Rašić, and with the minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi.
This statement was a reaction to a special envoy of the EU for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajčák, who said that the issue of the statute is an internal issue of Kosovo.
Kosovo and Serbia first reached agreements on the Association in 2013, and then in 2015 on the principles for its establishment.
Also in 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that the agreement was not fully in line with the Constitution, so official Pristina does not accept to implement that agreement.
On the other hand, Belgrade has insisted that the Association be formed as agreed in Brussels, and not that some points be harmonized with the Constitution of Kosovo, as proposed by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.
Both countries are part of the dialogue mediated by the EU for normalization of relations since 2011.
