The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, spoke on Wednesday to the media about international pressure to accept the Association of Serb Municipalities, a provision signed in 2013 that the Constitutional Court has since ruled against, stating a mono-ethnic structure is not possible in a multi-ethnic country.
Kurti said that when independence was declared, Kosovo was not considered an ‘Albanian’ country and was rather multi-ethnic.
“An ethnic association is not possible in a multi-ethnic Kosovo. When we declared independence 15 years ago, they said that even though Kosovo has over 90 per cent Albanians, it does not make it considered Albanian”, said Kurti.
Kurti said that it is not the place of Serbia to decide on internal politics in Kosovo.
“Serbia cannot decide for Kosovo, soon, we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the declaration of independence, and we are proud of the achievements in the last two years. You saw it yesterday when Transparency International showed that in the last two years, for 20 countries, we are higher in terms of fighting corruption and the country’s image”, said Kurti.
Kosovo ranked at number 84 in the Transparency International Global Corruption Perceptions Index with a score of 41, ahead of many of its regional counterparts. It has witnessed a sharp increase from 2019, when it scored 36, marking positive steps in the fight against corruption.
On the topic of Kosovo’s demographics, the population is around 92% ethnic Albanian, 4% Serb and 1.6% Bosniak. There are also sizeable Gorani, Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, and Turk communities.
The association was agreed upon and signed upon in 2013 under the previous government, but it has not been implemented along with many other agreements on both sides.
At the same time, Serbia agreed to no longer impede the process of Kosovo’s international recognition and integration, something it has not abided by and the agreement is yet to be ratified in Belgrade.
Minorities in Kosovo enjoy considerable rights under the constitution, including Serbian being an official language, guaranteed seats in parliament regardless of election results, representation at a municipal level, the right to nominate key police officials in Serb majority areas, Serbian language taught and studied in Serb-majority schools instead of Albanian, and at least one minister from the Serb minority in government.
The exact setup of the association is yet to be confirmed, but it is likely to be a parallel structure with its own executive powers. Internationals, including US stakeholders, have said it will go ahead without the prime minister’s permission but also said it would be created in a way that does not violate the constitution.
All sides have expressed concerns about not creating a situation like with the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Kurti concluded that “a mono-ethnic association in Kosovo with a multi-ethnic Constitution is not possible.”
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
Source: euractiv.com
