Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, said for Radio Free Europe that “Serbia does not have any role on establishment of the Association for Serb-majority Municipalities.” According to her, Serbian representatives do not have the authority to deal with the issue. “It is not up to Serbia to impose dates or make pressure,” she said.

 She noted that the agreement signed on this matter in Brussels is an international one “with exclusive competency of the Republic of Kosovo and its implementation can be expected once that the wall in Mitrovica North is removed.” She added that Serbia postponed the agreement on telephone prefix for Kosovo for six years, it continues to block the agreement on energy and it continues to keep a part of the parallel structures in northern Kosovo. “My message for them is to initially bring down the wall and not violate the Brussels agreement. At the moment the climate is created and when we can see that Serbia is implementing the agreements, then Kosovo will take responsibility and implement the agreement on Association,” said Tahiri adding that the entire Kosovo leadership has confirmed that the Association is an international agreement. She said that the Brussels Agreement makes it clear that the Association does not carry executive responsibilities and it will not even be the third level of the government in Kosovo. It will be in full accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. The drafting process of the statute of the Association has not started yet, but when it does, it will be in complete accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of December 2015,” Tahiri said.