The European Union says that the Government of Kosovo cannot draft the statute of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority outside the Brussels dialogue. According to them, any proposal should be discussed with Serbia, the EU mediator, and be in line with the agreement of 2013 and 2015.
In relation to this, the European Union asks the Kosovar executive to send the draft statute of the Association, drawn up by the EU, to the Constitutional Court without delay.
A day after Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that he cannot make associations of municipalities in the capacity of the head of the government and that it is up to the municipalities to make the association,
in the EU they say that the Government cannot give up its responsibilities within the dialogue or delegate them to municipalities with a Serbian majority.
KosovaPress has sent questions to the Government of Kosovo regarding this position of the European Union, but until the moment of publication of the text they have not returned an answer.
On the other hand, those familiar with the dialogue process say that despite the international pressure on the Government of Kosovo to send the draft statute of the Association to the Constitutional Court, such a thing is not expected to happen. According to them, Prime Minister Albin Kurti will not send the Association’s draft statute to the Constitutional Court without completing the February 9 elections, as such a thing would affect the loss of votes in the elections.
The spokesperson of the European Union, Peter Stano, tells KosovaPress that Prime Minister Albin Kurti should move forward in the implementation of the Brussels Basic Agreement and the Ohrid annex, reached in 2023, and therefore also start the steps for the establishment of the Association.
“According to the respective Dialogue Agreements of 2013 and 2015, the Statute for the establishment of the AKS must be drawn up and discussed in the dialogue. Any proposal must be discussed with Serbia and the EU mediator, and be consistent with the 2013 and 2015 agreements. This also means that the Government of Kosovo cannot draft the Statute outside the dialogue. The government cannot give up its responsibilities in the framework of the dialogue or delegate them to the municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo”, says his answer.
Further, Stano adds that the European draft statute for the Association is based on European models and good practices as well as on the legal framework of Kosovo.
