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Kosova

Osmani: Kosovo to participate in the preparation of the draft statute for the Association

Politiko 2023-09-27 21:04:51

Osmani: Kosovo to participate in the preparation of the draft statute for the

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said that Kosovo should, together with the United States, prepare the draft for the statute of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority.

In an interview for Radio Television of Kosovo, Osmani said that the Agreement towards the normalization of relations - that Kosovo and Serbia reached earlier in the year - is not "perfect" for Kosovo, but is an international obligation.

She said that there are still doubts about how some parts of it can be implemented in practice, citing Article 7 and 10. Article 7 talks about ensuring an appropriate level of self-sufficiency for the Serbian community, in accordance with the agreements previously reached in within the dialogue. Meanwhile, the next article requires the parties to implement all the agreements reached in the dialogue, including the one for the Association.

"I think the solution is as follows: We should sit down with the USA, prepare our draft, the draft of the Republic of Kosovo. Initially [only with the USA], I think this is the solution, to sit down with our partners in the USA, to present to the American Secretary of State [Antony Blinken] our draft, which is in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo, in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court, in accordance with the letter [from former EU diplomacy chief Federica] Mogherini guaranteeing that there will be no executive powers and in accordance with the written American position in the opinion [written] by [ DASH's senior adviser, Derek] Chollet and [Washington's envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel] Escobar clarify that such a body will be a coordinating body, without executive powers," said Osmani.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached the agreement on the Association in 2013 and then in 2015 the agreement on the principles for its establishment. However, in 2015 the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that the agreement was not in full harmony with the highest legal act and demanded that it be harmonized through sub-legal acts.

For the implementation of the agreement for the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo, there are currently four draft statutes and draft visions: Draft statute of the Management Team, draft vision of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, draft statute of the Prime Minister of Albania , Edi Rama, and the draft statute for the Association drawn up by the German organization Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).

The United States and the European Union have repeatedly asked Kosovo to form the Association, which is also the main demand of Belgrade.

The government of Kosovo fears that an ethnic association could undermine the functionality of the state. But the US insists that it will not allow the Association to resemble the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The EU and the USA have also asked Kosovo and Serbia to immediately implement the Agreement towards normalization.

This agreement, of 11 articles, provides, among other things, a level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, while asking Pristina and Belgrade to also implement all previous dialogue agreements ./rel