The Gracanica Municipal Assembly, by the decision of September 12th this year, decided to hand over two cadastral zones in the size of about 100 ha to the Kosovo Polje municipality, on the proposal of the Gracanica Mayor, Srdjan Popovic, reported portal Kossev.
Almost a month later, reports portal Kossev, on October 10, the Municipal Assembly of Kosovo Polje adopted a proposal to a decision on the mutual arrangement of cadastral lines between the municipalities of Gracanica and Kosovo Polje.
Kossev reports that in the explanation of the proposal, by the Mayor of the Municipality of Kosovo Polje, Mayor Burim Berisha, it was stated that the Municipal Assembly of Gracanica adopted the proposal on the decision on mutual arrangement of cadastral lines on 12 September, and that a positive assessment of the legality of this decision was already given day after by the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government tomorrow, that is on September 13th.
Kossev quotes Pristina daily Koha Ditore as saying that Ministry of Administration and Local Government claims that this was not true, and that the assessment of the legality of this decision has not yet been made.
The Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government told Koha Ditore that the decisions of the Gracanica and Kosovo Polje Municipal Assemblies were not yet approved, but added that, although municipalities have the right to such a proposal, there is no legal basis for the decision to donate part of the municipality. At least not without changing the law.
“Law 03 / I – 041 on administrative boundaries of municipalities provides the possibility of changing or arranging borders. However, Articles 9, 10 and 11 of this law define that the modification of cadastral lines is only possible by amending and supplementing the Law 03 / I – 041 on Administrative Boundaries of Municipalities,” reads the answer of the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government for Koha Ditore.
Law(s) of vital interest
The Law on Administrative Boundaries of Municipalities is one of the so-called “laws of vital interest” defined in Article 81 of the Kosovo Constitution. Laws of vital interest can only be changed with the so-called double majority, that is, 2/3 of the total number of members of the Kosovo Assembly (81 of the votes cast) and 2/3 of the number of deputies representing non-majority communities (14 out of 20 MP’s of representatives of non-majority communities).
Koha Ditore reported on Saturday that the Ministry reminded that this law was not included in the government’s legislative program for this year, and it is not realistic to expect any proposal to amend this law in the next two years.
Portal Kossev in addition clarified that the Ministry is obliged to assess the legality of each municipal act within 15 days.
