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 De\u00e7ani Monastery, while local officials and an association of De\u00e7ani historians have continued their opposition to the implementation of the Constitutional Court decision of 2016.<\/p>\n
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 De\u00e7ani Monastery, would be decisive for Kosovo\u2019s application for membership in the Council of Europe during the Assembly of this institution, which will be held in April.<\/p>\n
Kurti stated that although the government of Kosovo does not like the decision \u2013 which he described as \u201cstrange\u201d and \u201cunfair\u201d \u2013 it does not have legal and juridical means to annul the decision of the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
The head of the Kosovar executive declared that the government\u2019s stance on \u201cthis harmful decision will never change\u201d, but on the other hand, there is no doubt that Kosovo\u2019s membership in the Council of Europe \u201cwould 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\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kurti also announced that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Donika G\u00ebrvalla, has sent a verbal note to the Council of Europe, emphasizing that the decision-making process for Kosovo\u2019s membership will conclude in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The decision of the government of Kosovo was immediately welcomed by the United States.<\/p>\n
In a press conference after meeting with President Vjosa Osmani in Pristina, US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar said that \u201cas important and difficult as it was, the decision on the Monastery was very necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Pristina Jeff Hovenier said that the decision of the Kosovar executive \u201cdemonstrates Kosovo\u2019s commitment to respecting the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary\u201d.<\/p>\n
The implementation of the decision for the De\u00e7ani Monastery was also welcomed by the German Ambassador in Pristina, J\u00f6rn Rohde.<\/p>\n
Through a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the German diplomat said that although the implementation of this decision is delayed, it represents \u201can important step in Kosovo\u2019s commitment to the rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n
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 De\u00e7ani Monastery
\n\u201cwill preserve respect for the rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n
The head of De\u00e7an opposes the implementation of the decision<\/strong><\/p>\n However, this step by the Kosovar executive has faced opposition from local officials in De\u00e7an. The head of this municipality, Bashkim Ramosaj, opposed the implementation of the decision for the land of the De\u00e7ani Monastery, arguing that he has been waiting to meet Prime Minister Kurti for three years to discuss this issue.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are not capable of making a decision for this country, it is better not to create chaos for this country,\u201d he wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n Similarly, the decision has been opposed by the Association of Historians of Kosovo \u201cAli Hadri\u201d, De\u00e7an branch. The head of this association, Shkodran Imeraj, during a media address, said they are \u201coutraged\u201d and \u201csurprised\u201d by Kurti\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n He opposed the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the property around the De\u00e7ani Monastery, calling it \u201cunacceptable, unfair, anti-legal, and unconstitutional\u201d.<\/p>\n According to Imeraj, the implementation of this decision paves the way for \u201cdangerous 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 Milo\u0161evi\u0107 regime\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe implementation of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo on properties in De\u00e7an is the greatest attack on the legal and constitutional order of Kosovo since the entry into force of the Constitution in 2008,\u201d he said, warning that they are preparing to submit a case on this issue to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, it was reported that the Government of Kosovo expected the local authorities in De\u00e7an \u2013 a municipality in the western part of the country \u2013 to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court, while the Municipality of De\u00e7an, which has opposed the implementation of this decision throughout these years, has said that its stance has not changed.<\/p>\n This municipality is led by officials of the opposition party of Ramush Haradinaj, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo.<\/p>\n What is being contested?<\/strong><\/p>\n Local authorities in De\u00e7an have refused to register 24 hectares of land and forest in the name of the De\u00e7ani Monastery in the cadaster, because they consider this property to belong to the social enterprises \u201cApiko\u201d and \u201cIliria\u201d and that it has never been part of the monastery.<\/p>\n According to them, the Constitutional Court has \u201clegalized\u201d a decision from 1997 by the former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milo\u0161evi\u0107, whereby that property was gifted to the De\u00e7ani Monastery.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cis based on the discriminatory policy of the Serbian government of the \u201890s\u201d.<\/p>\n But, the De\u00e7ani Monastery states that such a stance by Kosovar officials \u201cthreatens the security of the Monastery\u201d, as the public is presented with the idea that \u201cthe Monastery itself took land from someone else\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n They also recall that \u201cduring the time of Milo\u0161evi\u0107\u201d, from 1991 to 1999, thousands of legal cases were brought regarding various disputes, and they wonder if all of those will be annulled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 De\u00e7ani Monastery, while local officials and an association of De\u00e7ani historians have continued their opposition to the implementation of the Constitutional Court decision of 2016. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":60733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[319,6362,300,243,151,2399],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n