Kosovo Official: Ethnic, National Municipalities Separate People

Albin Kurti (BETAPHOTO/STA/Daniel Novakovic)

Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti's deputy Emilia Rexhepi has said in a comment on the obligation of establishing a Community of Serb Municipalities that "the formation of ethnic, national municipalities can only separate people and citizens."

"The formation of municipalities of this kind - which are vested with considerable executive powers and competencies, could create another Republika Srpska inside our country. The stance of our government is to send the Community's Statue to the Constitutional Court for evaluation. We will wait for its opinion and after that, perhaps as a Cabinet, we should compose our draft version, which we will negotiate with representatives of the European Union. I think this is not against the Serbs, the Serbs should not see it that way," Rexhepi, the Kosovo government's official for minority questions and human rights said in an interview with the Voice of America.

Rexhepi, who is visiting Washington for the annual Prayer Breakfast, said that "the second thing that is disconcerting is that the creation of ethnic municipalities that directly give privileges to one people, could open Pandora's Box."

"Some other people could ask for the creation of some kind of other municipality, Turkish, Roma or Goranian. To me municipalities are - civil. They are not just for one ethnic community. They are a service for all citizens living in a municipality, without discrimination and privileges," Rexhepi said.