In a debate on Kosova, held on Tuesday in the European Parliament, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Affairs, Oliver Varhelyi, was also present. For him, the draft statute of the management team of Kosova should be the starting point in the discussions on the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority. According to the draft statute, which was presented on May 2 in Brussels, the association will be a “special form of organization, established for the purpose of protecting human and minority rights”, said Varhelyi.

The European Commissioner emphasized the creation of the Association as an obligation arising from the dialogue agreements. “All obligations from the dialogue must be implemented, without delay and without conditions, including the one from the 2013 and 2015 agreements for the establishment of the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority. As the Special Representative for Dialogue Miroslav Lajçak has underlined, the draft proposal of presented at the last meeting by the management team, is the starting point for further discussions on the establishment of the Association”, said Varhelyi.

A model for Kosova was offered by the Foreign Minister of Croatia, Gordan Grlic Radman, who visited Pristina on Tuesday. The Croatian model for dealing with the rights of national minorities can serve as a good model for Kosova as well, Radman said, adding that his country supports any agreement between Kosova and Serbia. According to the Croatian Foreign Minister, his country’s model was successful, but there are many models in the world that can be used.

A week ago, the management team for drafting the statute for the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority, presented the first draft in Brussels. This draft has 67 articles and is divided into nine chapters, such as: general provisions, community issues, organizational structure, membership in the Association and relations between member municipalities, assets and income, forms of direct decision-making, changes in the statute of the Association, dissolution of the Association and transitional and final provisions. According to the draft statute that was published on Tuesday by the media in Pristina, the Association will be a “special form of organization, established for the purpose of protecting the human and minority rights” of all residents and communities living in the municipalities that are part of the Association. Its administrative center, based on the presented draft statute, is North Mitrovica. There will be an Assembly of the Association, elected by the member municipalities, and the Assembly is the supreme body of the Association.

This draft statute, which was published by the media in Pristina, was strongly opposed by the President of the Democratic League of Kosova in the opposition, Lumir Abdixhiku. According to him, “the draft charter document, drawn up by the Management Team, is more than an Association and it is more than an Autonomy, it is a state within a state. He wrote on social networks that “a body that issues laws, manages national assets, wealth public and natural resources, a body that organizes elections, holds referendums and receives powers from the Assembly and the Government of Kosova, has no place in our state and constitutional regulation”.

In 2013, Kosova and Serbia agreed on the establishment of the Association. Also in 2015, its principles were agreed upon. In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosova found that 22 articles of the Association are in conflict with the Constitution of Kosova. The establishment of the Association is already foreseen with the agreement reached in Ohrid on March 18 between Kosova and Serbia. The American envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, said last week that “the implementation of the Ohrid agreement starts with the Association of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority in Kosova.

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