Daily newspaper Blic writes that the Kosovo government has officially announced that the process of forming the Community/Association of Serb municipalities (ZSO), even the EU that the drafting of the Statute has begun, and representatives of the Serbs claim that none of this has been done.
Blic writes that the games around the establishment of the ZSO are largely in progress and that it is increasingly certain that the Serbs from Kosovo will start on their own the formation on April 20. The daily, however, raises the question of whether all of it together makes any sense.
As Blic writes, according to the Brussels Agreement, the start of the establishment of the ZSO is very simple. It is enough for the Government of Ramush Haradinaj to order a management team, composed of four Serbs, to start drafting the Statute. Judging by the statements of both, the Kosovo government and the European Union, it happened a few days ago.
According to daily Blic, this is rather frivolous, they say especially for the EU, since none of this has been done.
Igor Kalamar, a member of the management team, told Blic that he had no contact with Pristina authorities.
“We did not get any orders from Pristina, so we could not start working on the drafting of the Statute,” he says.
Pristina want Albanians to form the ZSO
Daily writes that the Government of Kosovo obviously had other idea of forming the ZSO, quite the opposite of what was agreed in Brussels three years ago, by the Agreement on the Community/Association of Serb Municipalities.
As Blic was unofficially told by the Office for KiM, a document entitled “Working mechanism for ASO (Association of Serbian Municipalities)” was presented to the representatives of Western countries, which foresees three bodies that will work on the establishment of the ZSO – Executive Committee, Management Team and National Consultative Group.
Blic writes that according to this document, the Management Team does not consist of only four Serbs, as agreed in Brussels, but a total of 12 officials, of whom seven are Albanians.
The other two bodies are not even envisaged by the Agreement, and will have, at least 21 members, all of whom may be representatives of Kosovo institutions and NGOs there, writes the daily.
As stated in the document ”Working Mechanism for ASO”, the task of the Executive Board is to define the responsibilities and tasks of the Management Team, as well as to monitor its performance, coordinate with Brussels and implement the Agreement “in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo”. This committee should be led by Avni Arifi, a technical negotiator in dialogue with Belgrade.
The National Consultative Team is also not envisaged by the Brussels agreement, and as the Working Mechanism states, it should serve as a platform for discussion and consultation with local and international experts, and its task is to ensure that “all communities in Kosovo are presented with dignity,” Blic reports.
Igor Simic, a spokesperson of the Serbian List, says for Blic that Serbs from Kosovo are very unhappy with this move of Pristina, as well as that nothing concerning the ZSO issue is in line with the Brussels agreement.
As Simic says, under the Agreement, in addition to the Management Team, which already exists, the formation and implementation committee is envisaged, that should establish together by Serbian and Albanian sides.
– The sole task of that body would be to monitor the implementation of the agreement. Also, no decisions in the last days have been made at the Kosovo government session, because it did not even convene, Simic says, adding that it is the lie that the Management Team was given an order to write the Statute.
– Also, Pristina until now had to amend the Constitution and laws, so that the formation of the ZSO is in line with the Constitution, not to change the Brussels agreement – Simic said.
The director of the KiM Office, Marko Djuric said several days ago that it was obvious that Pristina’s intention was not to form a ZSO, and that it would be done by the representatives of the Serbs, as agreed in Brussels.
Nevertheless, the daily comments, the question arises what the purpose of the ZSO is.
Goran Bogdanovic, former minister for Kosovo and Metohija in the Serbian government, believes that it is better to wait four months, until when, as they said from Brussels, the Community of Serb municipalities should be formed.
– If we were waiting for so long, we need to wait a bit longer. If we form the ZSO ourselves, both the Kosovo government and the EU it will be illegal and nobody will recognize it, Bogdanovic concludes, adding that the agreement clearly states that the ZSO must comply with the laws and the Kosovo Constitution.
-And then we’re wondering how it was not formed as it was agreed in Brussels,he said.
