During the upcoming round of Brussels talks Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and prime minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa should sign memorandums on Community / Association of the Serbian municipalities (ZSO), energy and the removal of the “Peace Park”.
The most controversial and the most difficult part of the negotiations is a document that relates to the ZSO. The EU Office in Pristina told SRNA that the document is ready, and that its essence and core are provisions envisaged by the plan on decentralization of the UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari. “Municipalities have the right to be horizontally and vertically bound”, was written in the Ahtisaari “document”. These provisions constitute the core of the future act of the Community of municipalities with Serbian majority. According to their interpretation, the jurisdiction of that organization are not disputed, debatable is the name itself.
Pristina, quoting Ahtisaari footnotes, interpret the name as “association”. In addition, Pristina’s position is that it is “an association of municipalities with majority Serbian population” and that this association, as specified by Ahtisaari plan, is formed in accordance with Kosovo laws and the constitution. Contrary to it, Belgrade is advocating the idea of Community of Serbian municipalities for whose formation should be amended the Serbian and Kosovo’s constitution as well as accompanying legislation in order to give to that organization the executive powers.
Referring to the draft document, the Office of the EU in Pristina argue that Brussels suggested a document which states “an association of municipalities with majority Serbian population” and that Mogherini will not support Belgrade’s idea on the Community of Serbian municipalities. Western embassies have warned Belgrade that a request to form a community of “non-existent” Serbian municipalities is unacceptable, because that would automatically cause the destabilization of constitutional and social order in Kosovo.
