Kosovo’s Dialogue Minister Edita Tahiri announced last week that an agreement had been reached for the Civilna Zastita, which has been operating as a de facto security force in Serb-majority northern Kosovo, to be dissolved and its members incorporated into the regular police. “The agreement reached between the three parties, Kosovo, Serbia and the EU is of great importance because it brings an end to the illegal ‘Civilna Zastita’ structure and allows for the integration of its members in the institutions of Kosovo,” Tahiri said in a press release.
The Pristina government has a long-standing grievance against so-called “parallel” institutions operating in northern Kosovo, which it sees as the long arm of the Serbian government.
The Civil Protection force formally plays a humanitarian role, assisting the civilian population in crises and extraordinary situations. But the government considers the Civilna Zastita a threat to its sovereignty in the north, and blames it for encouraging resistance among Serbs to joining the Kosovo police force.
Many Serbs in Kosovo however have little confidence in Kosovo’s Albanian-majority police force.
Dejan Pavicevic, the Serbian government’s liasion officer in Pristina, said that the members of the Civilna Zastita would be guaranteed continued employment.
“I do not expect that the people who have so far worked for their government to cease doing so,” said Pavicevic told Belgrade newspaper Vecernje Novosti. “They have always been there to ensure that everyone feels safer and they will continue to do the same jobs within the sector for extraordinary situations and other institutions in Kosovo and Metohija,” he said.
This move was predicted in the 15-point Brussels Agreement of 2013 on the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which also called for the formation of a semi-autonomous Association of Serbian Municipalities.
The dissolution of the Civilna Zastita is supposed to be completed by September 1.
Kosovo and Serbia began the EU-facilitated dialogue in Brussels in 2011, initially at a technical level – to iron out practical difficulties between the two, such as border crossings – and then at the top political level.
The dialogue, initiated by former Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and former Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, is now led by Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.
