The Status of the ZSO at the end, the European Union silent (Vecernje Novosti)
According to the deadline set by the European Union, the Draft Statute should be presented in Brussels on 4 August, but a new meeting of technical teams at the EU headquarters has not yet been scheduled, or the continuation of dialogue at the highest political level, Vecernje Novosti writes today.
Vecernje Novosti reports that in the past three months Management Team for the establishment of the Community of Serb municipalities (ZSO) did not receive no call from Brussels, to present a working version of the Statute to the committees for implementation of both parties and the EU mediator, although the agreement envisages that this happens once a month.
Sources close to the negotiating team in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue confirmed this for Vecernje Novosti, explaining that the Management Team meets regularly with all relevant experts from all areas of the ZSO competence and that a call from Brussels is awaited:
- The EU ignores the agreement and does not convene meetings. In any case, it is now too late for it, we are entering the last month of work and by the beginning they have a deadline to complete the text of the Statute and present it to Brussels. After that, this text should be harmonized in the dialogue at the highest-level.
The Management Team for the establishment of the ZSO met on Tuesday with the mayors of municipalities in Kosovo with a Serb majority and informed them of the progress made in the drafting of this document, which is to establish the future organizational structure of the Community.
The Management Team has announced that it is crucial that the competencies of the Community of Serb Municipalities remain as they are defined in the First Brussels Agreement.
According to this document, the ZSO will have assembly, president, council, a committee, an administration and a complains office. It also insists on the competences in the areas of education, health, economic development and urban and rural planning, and that the Pristina side implement constitutional changes that would allow the formation of the ZSO, recalls the daily.