The director of the Forum for Ethnic Relations Dusan Janjic stated that hiding behind the existing laws makes the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina pointless and assessed that there will be certain changes of laws and the Constitution.

“Existing laws have not being provided by the God, they serve to regulate processes, one should be aware that there will be changes of laws and the Constitution, and what is important here is the agreeable behavior of political elites,” said Janjic in Gracanica at the round table dubbed ‘Decentralization and Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija’ organized by the Forum for Ethnic Relations.

According to his assessment the issue of the Association/Community of Serb municipalities (A/CSM) is directly related to the process of normalization in part that refers to northern Kosovo and survival or dismantling of institutions functioning in the Serbian system, that is, parallel institutions. That is an important step which is still pending, said Janjic.

Janjic assessed that general trend in negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina is good, however this still doesn’t guarantee the success, since agreements are always of a general nature, whereas ‘the devil sleeps in details’. There are many details to be settled, which refer to the issue of A/CSM or municipalities populated with Serb-majority. Janjic pointed out that he is sure that the first step that needs to be taken is a condition for the step that comes next, and next one has to do with the full integration in the institutions and legislative framework of Kosovo. “Hiding behind the existing laws in essence means making any dialogue pointless,” said Janjic.

The round table was attended by the head of Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Ðurić, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo Jennifer Brush, Norwegian Ambassador to Kosovo Jan Braathu, Deputy Kosovo Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic, Executive Director of the Democracy for Development Leon Malazogu and others.