Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti doubled down on the decision not to allow the creation of an Association of Serb Municipalities, noting it is unconstitutional and not wanted by the local population, rather only from Belgrade.
The association is an executive structure of ethnic Serbs that would function in parallel to the Pristina government, and it is demanded by Belgrade in the ongoing normalisation negotiations. Kosovo maintains it infringes on its sovereignty but that Serbs may have an organisation that functions more like an NGO.
“Our constitution is incompatible with the establishment of an ethnic unity because the essence of the Constitution of Kosovo is the multi-ethnic structure of the state,” Kurti told APA when asked about its compatibility with local law.
He continued, “Such demands for autonomy for the Serb-majority areas in northern Kosovo did not even come from the local population. Only Belgrade wants this to compensate for the losses suffered in the war under Milosevic, but that is not possible.”
Meanwhile, extraordinary snap elections are set to be held in the northern municipalities after Serb representatives resigned en masse in protest over the license plate situation.
Kosovo has sought to enforce a rule whereby all cars belonging to citizens must have nationally issued license plates, similar to rules in most other countries. However, Belgrade refuses to recognise Kosovo’s independence, and Serbs living in the north plan to keep their Yugoslavia-issued plates.
The plan to implement the new law has been postponed several times due to international pressure, with Kurti pledging on 31 October to roll out the measure gradually. From 21 November, fines will be payable by anyone not displaying Kosovo-issued plates.
Employees of state institutions, the police and courts all walked out last week, leaving a vacuum in the tense part of the country. Now Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani has called elections on 18 December to replace municipal officials in Mitrovica, Leposavic, Zubin Patok and Zvecan.
“The law stipulates that elections are announced upon resignation. 18 December is the predicted date. I will request international partners to monitor the elections,” Osmani said.
The Serbian List, Kosovo’s ethnic Serb party, announced they would not participate in the elections. Prior to resigning their mandates last week, they had not participated in parliament for four months.
Also on Tuesday, The Special Envoy of the European Union for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak, held a meeting in Brussels with the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi.
The main topic on the table was the license plate situation with Lajçak reiterating the need for dialogue.
“With the Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi today we are discussing the current crisis in relations between Kosovo and Serbia, in particular the license plate issue. We urgently need to find a solution to ensure security and stability on the ground. Any escalation or violence is unacceptable,” the Slovak diplomat wrote on Twitter.