The Minister for Communities and Returns and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kosovo Government in resignation, Dalibor Jevtic, believe that the issue of "Trepca" probably will be tackled within the framework of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, KIM radio reports on Friday.
The government adopted this week a draft of the Trepca Statute and forwarded it to the Kosovo Assembly for consideration.
Serbs did not take part in drafting Trepca Statute, they are neither members of the Supervisory Board nor were they consulted when a draft law on Trepca was made, member of Srpska Lista Igor Simic told Serbian media.
He also termed as disappointing the silence of the international community over the matter.
“This is an example how Pristina is conducting physical and legal violence against Serbian population (...),” Simic told RTS, adding Trepca is one of the examples as why property issues should be a topic in Brussels dialogue.
Kosovo’s Minister of Economic Development, Valdrin Lluka, told Ekonomia Online news website that the board of the Trepca mining complex is expected to be up and running by April. He said the final interviews with candidates will take place on 25 March and that the selection process afterwards will not take more than a week. “We are extremely interesting in finalizing this board,” Lluka said. “There is a huge interest from foreign investors to invest in Trepca, therefore every day is a waste of time,” he added.
The Trepca mining and metallurgical complex in Kosovo is this Thursday marking its 90th anniversary.
And the head of state, Aleksandar Vucic, said that Serbia would fight for that company "uncompromisingly."
Minister of Economic Development, Valdrin Lluka, said in a meeting with Mitrovica Mayor, Agim Bahtiri, that his goal is to turn the Trepca mining complex into Kosovo’s engine of economic development and employment. “We will get down to work right away and will establish a board for the [Trepca] enterprise to pave way for sustainable development,” Lluka said. The meeting was held at Mayor Bahtiri’s request who expressed his concerns over the state of public enterprises in the Mitrovica region.
The 120-seat Kosovo Assembly on Sunday elected Ramush Haradinaj, the PDK-led coalition candidate, as new head of the Kosovo government.
61 voted in favor, while one member of the Assembly abstained.
After the session, members of the Self-Determination and the coalition gathered around the LDK left the session and did not attend the taking of the oath of office of Haradinaj and the members of his government.
Kosovo's Constitutional Court announced its decision on the constitutionality of the Law on strategic investments which finds that the law is in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo. The request to review the constitutionality was submitted by the Serbian List MPs. The Constitutional Court rejected the request for provisional measure as unenforceable under Article 43.2 of the Law on the Constitutional Court.
Slavko Simic, head of the Serbian List parliamentary group, said in his address at the Kosovo Assembly today that Serb MPs will continue to oppose the law on the Trepca mining complex. “The Serbian List will continue to oppose this law because it was done without consultations with Serbs. We were not able to protect our interests. These laws are not good for the Serb community. We are here in the Assembly to protect our interests and only with work and honesty we can overcome the current problems and regain trust,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Milan Radojević does not expect the Kosovo police intervention in the north of Kosovo in order to take over the control over the Trepča.
Besnik Berisha adviser to the Prime Minister of Kosovo, stated that the Law on Trepca cannot be contested by the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court.
In an announcement for the Radio Free Europe, Berisha said that the only competent institution to interpret eligibility of a law or of a bylaw is the Constitutional Court.