According to Veton Surroi, explanations of the Government regarding the two new legislative initiatives for this week, proposal for an additional mandate of minority seats at the Assembly and approval for creation of Kosovo Armed Forces, do not stand. Being head of the team which negotiated minority issues in Vienna, Surroi explains that after a range of negotiations then, the compromise was reached to apply the reserved seats for the minorities at the Assembly, during two mandates. This was also blessed by the sponsors of the independence of Kosovo, represented at ICO, says Surroi.
Surroi says that so far, the rational explanation for the reserved seats was that they would help integration of minority communities in Kosovo. “I do not see how 30 deputies from the minorities would have more impact than 20, on integration of minorities in the institutions of Kosovo,” he says adding that this is more discrimination of the majority by members of the majority community. If there is no rational explanation, then it is difficult to find political will. In case of the lack of political will there is pressure or threatening, however there is no international pressure to accept this. So the pressure appears to be an invention of the outgoing Government. This artificial pressure is created due to the alleged need for the votes of minority community during the constitutional changes which would make Kosovo with an army.
And here is the next deception, he says. Kosovo has an army ever since the endorsement of the Constitution of Kosovo. KSF is a constitutional description, just as Japan’s Self-defense Force or Defense Force of Israel, he says. He explains that he has negotiated this issue in Vienna as well, and the decision on the name was made for pragmatic reasons, in order not to mention the word army, which would provoke Russia at the UN Security Council. He further explains that the new name is also part of the political games. In fact, he adds, by every doctrine, Armed Forces means entirety of units that could defend the country, including the police or even territorial defense. There are three things that make KSF an army and they have nothing to do with the name: the first one is if KSF would become enriched with new operational duties. The second is that KSF would become more an army if Kosovo became more of a state, and the third, if it managed to function within a collective security system, such as NATO.
