Authorities in Belgrade insist the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities is established in accordance to the Brussels agreement and not the Constitution of Kosovo, reported Radio Free Europe in Albanian. The agreement reached on 25 August last year as part of the dialogue for normalisation of relations between Pristina and Belgrade grants the Association/Community a level of autonomy in education, health, urban and rural planning.

The head of the Serbian Assembly Committee for Kosovo, Milovan Drecun, said that the Association/Community, as envisaged by the Pristina authorities, does not contribute to the Serb community in Kosovo. “We are not interested whether the Association/Community will be in accordance to the Constitution of Kosovo. The Association/Community should be in line with the Brussels Agreement”, said Drecun. He added that Pristina will make effort in reducing the competencies the Association/Community is given through the Brussels Agreement which, Drecun said, is something that will not contribute to the improvement of the position of Serbs in Kosovo.

At the same time, authorities in Pristina claim this mechanism will be established in accordance to the decision of the Kosovo’s Constitutional Court which ruled last year that parts of the Brussels Agreement paving way for the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities are unconstitutional. Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri recalled the conditions the Serbian side needs to meet before the Association/Community is established. She said the main one is related to the complete dissolving of Serbia’s parallel structures in Kosovo. “We have presented this condition at the European Union ever since the beginning of talks on the Agreement on Association/Community”, said Tahiri.