Western states have welcomed the request of the government of Kosovo for the Kosovo Cadastral Agency to implement the decision regarding the land of the Deçani Monastery, while local officials and an association of Deçani historians have continued their opposition to the implementation of the Constitutional Court decision of 2016.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced during the executive meeting on March 13 that the request addressed to the Cadastral Agency was made because the implementation of the Constitutional Court decision, which requires the transfer of 24 hectares of land to the Deçani Monastery, would be decisive for Kosovo’s application for membership in the Council of Europe during the Assembly of this institution, which will be held in April.

Kurti stated that although the government of Kosovo does not like the decision – which he described as “strange” and “unfair” – it does not have legal and juridical means to annul the decision of the Constitutional Court.

The head of the Kosovar executive declared that the government’s stance on “this harmful decision will never change”, but on the other hand, there is no doubt that Kosovo’s membership in the Council of Europe “would not only be a historic victory, but also a giant step for our republic towards recognition by the European five, enabling membership in NATO and the European Union for independent Kosovo”.

Kurti also announced that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Donika Gërvalla, has sent a verbal note to the Council of Europe, emphasizing that the decision-making process for Kosovo’s membership will conclude in May.

“On March 22, there is an extraordinary meeting of the community there, from mid-April is the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and at the end of May is the review by the Council of Ministers, in the Council of Europe, which decides on our membership,” he said.

The decision of the government of Kosovo was immediately welcomed by the United States.

In a press conference after meeting with President Vjosa Osmani in Pristina, US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar said that “as important and difficult as it was, the decision on the Monastery was very necessary”.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Pristina Jeff Hovenier said that the decision of the Kosovar executive “demonstrates Kosovo’s commitment to respecting the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary”.

The implementation of the decision for the Deçani Monastery was also welcomed by the German Ambassador in Pristina, Jörn Rohde.

Through a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the German diplomat said that although the implementation of this decision is delayed, it represents “an important step in Kosovo’s commitment to the rule of law”.

Meanwhile, the Head of Mission in Kosovo of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Michael Davenport, said that the implementation of the decision for the Deçani Monastery
“will preserve respect for the rule of law”.

The head of Deçan opposes the implementation of the decision

However, this step by the Kosovar executive has faced opposition from local officials in Deçan. The head of this municipality, Bashkim Ramosaj, opposed the implementation of the decision for the land of the Deçani Monastery, arguing that he has been waiting to meet Prime Minister Kurti for three years to discuss this issue.

“When you are not capable of making a decision for this country, it is better not to create chaos for this country,” he wrote on Facebook.

Similarly, the decision has been opposed by the Association of Historians of Kosovo “Ali Hadri”, Deçan branch. The head of this association, Shkodran Imeraj, during a media address, said they are “outraged” and “surprised” by Kurti’s decision.

He opposed the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the property around the Deçani Monastery, calling it “unacceptable, unfair, anti-legal, and unconstitutional”.

According to Imeraj, the implementation of this decision paves the way for “dangerous precedents for Kosovo, starting from the churches on the property of the University of Pristina and continuing with many churches and monasteries throughout the territory of our Republic built by the Milošević regime”.

“The implementation of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo on properties in Deçan is the greatest attack on the legal and constitutional order of Kosovo since the entry into force of the Constitution in 2008,” he said, warning that they are preparing to submit a case on this issue to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Government of Kosovo expected the local authorities in Deçan – a municipality in the western part of the country – to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court, while the Municipality of Deçan, which has opposed the implementation of this decision throughout these years, has said that its stance has not changed.

This municipality is led by officials of the opposition party of Ramush Haradinaj, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo.

What is being contested?

Local authorities in Deçan have refused to register 24 hectares of land and forest in the name of the Deçani Monastery in the cadaster, because they consider this property to belong to the social enterprises “Apiko” and “Iliria” and that it has never been part of the monastery.

According to them, the Constitutional Court has “legalized” a decision from 1997 by the former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milošević, whereby that property was gifted to the Deçani Monastery.

So far, this stance of the local government has also been supported by senior officials of Kosovo, including Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani, for whom this decision of the Constitutional Court “is based on the discriminatory policy of the Serbian government of the ‘90s”.

But, the Deçani Monastery states that such a stance by Kosovar officials “threatens the security of the Monastery”, as the public is presented with the idea that “the Monastery itself took land from someone else”.

They explain that in 1997, 24 hectares out of a total of 700 hectares of land were returned to them, which had been taken from them by the communist government of Yugoslavia in 1946.

They also recall that “during the time of Milošević”, from 1991 to 1999, thousands of legal cases were brought regarding various disputes, and they wonder if all of those will be annulled.