Belgrade has accepted Pristina’s proposal that future employees of the Association/Community of Serb municipalities have the status of ‘employees in the public sector’, learned the paper.
Even though Serbian side insisted that A/CSM employees have the status of ‘state employees’ formulation ‘employees in the public sector’ is also acceptable for Belgrade, since it clearly stipulates that A/CSM is not a non-governmental organization as Albanian side used to treat it so far.
‘State employees’ in the public sector defer by the jobs they are performing. ‘State employee’ is an individual who works for the bodies in the ‘state’ administration – ministries, courts, prosecutors’ offices, whereas employees in the public sector are employed in public agencies in the sectors of education, science, culture, health and social welfare.
If the final version of the agreement on the A/CSM is accepted in following days, a possibility would open for another round of dialogue to take place at the level of the prime ministers in late July, where they would sign this agreement and most probably the one on telecommunications.
At the latest Brussels meeting, which lasted 17 hours, Belgrade and Pristina agreed that A/CSM is released from taxes and customs fees, whereas Serbia could finance the A/CSM. Brussels agreement also stipulates that A/CSM bodies are: the president (represents A/CSM in the province), the Council, comprised of 30 individuals (political body comprised of mayors and representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church), the Executive Council (seven members that will have ministerial authorizations) and the head of the A/CSM who will be responsible to the Executive Council.
The director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric, today will take part in the meetings in Brussels dedicated to implementation of the so far reached agreements with Pristina. It is expected to be clearer after those meetings what are the chances for organizing a meeting between the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo before the summer retreat of the European administration.
New agreement between the two sides would be a strong argument for the European Commission to make the next step in the EU membership negotiations with Serbia and open the first chapters this fall or until the end of the year.
