Chollet, Escobar – Community of Serb Municipalities By All Means, but Nothing Like Republika Srpska

Derek Chollet (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Counselor of the United States Department of State Derek Chollet and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs responsible for the South Central European (SCE) portfolio Gabriel Escobar agreed that the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities was one of the most important tasks in Kosovo.

In an article carried by the KoSSev portal the two authors said the commitment was not contrary to the Constitution of Kosovo, nor could the Community jeopardize Kosovo’s sovereignty, independence or democratic institutions. Chollet and Escobar were explicitly opposed to “creating any entity similar to Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Generally speaking, the Community would provide a structure for the municipalities where ethnic Serbs composed a majority, coordinating affairs and services including education, healthcare, urban and rural planning and local economic development. In a word, it would be responsible for the functions any other municipality in Kosovo is.

It is equally important that the implementation of the Agreement on the Community of Serb Municipalities is an unfulfilled, legally binding international commitment which requires further actions by Kosovo, Serbia and the European Union, the two U.S. officials said in the article.