Analyst Petar Miletić assesses that if the Community/Association of Serbian Municipalities has no jurisdiction in the area of security, education and health it is irrelevant whether or not it will have jurisdiction in the field of spatial planning.
Miletić says that if the ZSO is conceived as a kind of autonomy of Serbs within Kosovo, and as a mechanism of protection against majorization, then certainly should have and the authority to deal with internal urban planning and construction.
“However, Belgrade’s negotiating team for the allocation of international phone number got the opening of two and a half chapters in EU accession talks instead to insist on the establishment of the ZSO and the competences of the Community for the most important issues for Kosovo Serbs,” said Miletić.
Councillor in the municipality of North Mitrovica Igor Simić says that he expects the Community/Association of Serb municipalities to have, in accordance with the agreement in Brussels, among other things and full competence in the field of urban and rural planning.
He was referring to the problems arising from the construction of a retaining wall in Mitrovica North saying that this case showed how important is the competence for the ZSO.
“If this is not implemented, then someone in Pristina will define what and where we build in our own towns, villages and settlements, and then it would not only be the infrastructure issue but also a security issue,” said Simić.
