Koha Ditore’s publisher Flaka Surroi writes today that Kosovo scored an own goal with regards to the establishment of the special court and it should now bear the consequences. Surroi claims that the constitutional amendment paving way for the court was passed by the Kosovo Assembly because the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader Hashim Thaci wanted so and in the run-up to the voting he managed to prove he is the only one who “can get a job done” in Kosovo. At present, the opposition plans to send the case to the Constitutional Court to rule of the legality of the vote and the court, according to Surroi, can either decide to overturn Assembly’s decision which would suit Thaci as this would give him more time to secure guarantees that he will not be indicted by the special court or it can turn down the opposition’s case and leave things to proceed. In this case, the following step would be ratification of international agreement with the Netherlands to have the court be based in The Hague. Ratification, in turn, would require two-thirds of votes from Albanian MPs as well as two-thirds from non-Albanian communities. If Thaci wants to, he can make sure the motion doesn’t pass and yet again prove everything depends on him.

Meanwhile, adds Surroi, Europe is trying to secure funds for the functioning of a court which already possesses all material to file indictments but will do so in about six months’ time until it is up and running. What is not certain at this point is whether professional judges and prosecutors will be selected to work for the court or whether it will be the case as with other missions, notably UNMIK and EULEX, where the people working to deliver justice failed to accomplish their tasks. “Without wanting to prejudge anything, I find it difficult to believe that the special court will do more than preceding missions in Kosovo”, writes Surroi. She notes that the special court has overshadowed the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities which someone has recently thought to link to the establishment of Kosovo Armed Forces. It is almost certain that the establishment of the Association/Community will be put to vote in the way of a constitutional amendment because of the executive powers that Serbs are demanding it enjoys. In this context, the idea to link the voting for the creation of armed force to that of the association/community is highly dangerous as in Surroi’s view it is not worth trading the army with autonomy for the Serbs. And while the special court is a “very bad stain” for Kosovo, the loss of the northern territory would be a much worse option, warns Surroi.