DW: The draft statute for the Association accepts the recognition of Kosovo

At the request of the opposition parties, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, reported to the Assembly about the draft statute proposed by the West for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo.

In the Assembly of Kosovo, a fierce debate took place on Friday until late on the issue of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority, with accusations and counter-accusations of the opposition parties and those in power. During a report to the Assembly, for the first time since the last meeting in Brussels, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that the draft statute for the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority presented by European and American diplomats, interrupts the unrecognized legacy of the Republic of Kosovo that was cemented as stated in the earlier agreements of 2013 and 2015.

Kurti: The last western draft for the Association "is clearly not 'Zajednica'"

The Prime Minister reported on the meetings a week ago in Brussels, with the leaders of the main countries of the European Union, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. "In my political judgment, the draft has a clarity regarding the recognition of the Republic of Kosovo as an independent state, in which the Serbs will live in accordance with the multi-ethnic aspirations of the Constitution and without any other harmful or undermining purpose for the Republic, in recognition of the sovereign state and our territorial integrity", said Prime Minister Kurti, rejecting the accusations of the opposition that he has accepted the "Zajednica", as Kurti preferred to call it when he was in the opposition, the agreement for the Association of 2013. 

According to Kurti, the latest Western draft for the Association "is clearly not 'Zajednica' as the agreements of 2013 and 2015 envisioned", because as Kurti says, "that way it would be indisputable". 

Two weeks ago, the five Western envoys delivered to the authorities of Kosovo and Serbia a document on the implementation of the Ohrid agreement. The draft statute of the Association has not been made public, with the Western recommendation, which the parties are respecting. What is already known is that the draft also contains the proposal of the Association's statute. Prime Minister Kurti said that, according to the draft statute, "any changes to it are made only after the Ministry of Local Government Administration of the Republic has agreed and only after the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo has issued a permissive judgment".

Accusations from opposition parties

The opposition political parties were very harsh with their criticism of Prime Minister Kurti, accusing him of subverting all the principles with which he had won power. The chairman of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo PDK, Memli Krasniqi, criticized the prime minister for not showing details about the draft statute of the Association and that, according to him, Kurti "has accepted that Serbia decides on the internal regulation of Kosovo".

"They brought a draft for the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, the community, 'Zajednica', and you accepted it. Can you tell us what you did there in Brussels if you didn't accept it. First, when you said, let's sign it, you made a mistake that an amateur should not have made. To tell the world I am ready to sign with Vučić the draft of the Association for Kosovo, which regulates Kosovo internally, is not trivial, it is abnormal, it is accept that Serbia decides on the internal regulation of Kosovo", said Krasniqi.

The head of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku, accused Prime Minister Kurti of lack of transparency in relation to the dialogue in Brussels. "Although, on behalf of the people of Kosovo, the prime minister has accepted a document that for the first time defines the Association's statute, we continue to be in a complete state of information. Such a vital document, already agreed with Serbia, continues to not be revealed to the people in advance of Kosovo", said the chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Lumir Abdixhiku. Even Besnik Tahiri, from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo AAK, said that, "if this prime minister believed in the will of the sovereign, he would never accept that vital information for the Republic of Kosovo treated in dialogue, to be kept in confidence, away from the eyes of the citizens, away from the assembly, without their involvement and without the trust of the majority". 

The issue of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority has clashed at a distance since 2013, Kosovo and Serbia, but also the ruling and opposition political parties in Kosovo and Serbia. In the last agreement between Kosovo and Serbia that was reached in Ohrid, Macedonia on March 18 of this year, the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian majority is part of it. The Ohrid Agreement, which the international community insistently seeks to implement, foresees the building of good neighborly relations between Kosovo and Serbia, recognition of documents and symbols and respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The agreement also requires the parties not to hinder each other in the integration processes. The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, for his part, has already stated several times that he "will not accept anything that leads to the de facto recognition of Kosovo", although this request is already openly being made by the highest authorities of the EU. and the U.S. DW