Escobar: Community of Serb Municipalities Needs to Be Implemented in Kosovo

Gabriel Escobar (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/EV)

U.S. envoy for the Western Balkans and the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Gabriel Escobar said on Aug. 5 that the agreements reached by Serbia and Kosovo needed to be implemented, including one to set up a Community of Serb Municipalities, and that the Community should be discussed at a meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti later this month.

The Community, Escobar said, “Should not be in contravention with the Constitution of Kosovo or create problems in Kosovo’s functioning, and it should not be a state within a state.” Escobar said to journalists that he hoped August would be the month that would open new opportunities for making progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, not only in terms of seeking a durable solution for the problem of license plates, but also regarding the agreement to set up the Community of Serb Municipalities.

The U.S. envoy said there were many examples in Europe as to how minorities could protect their cultural heritage and language as part of the constitution, and that they could be used as a model for the implementation of the Community of Serb Municipalities. Escobar urged Serbian and Kosovo leaders to join a constructive dialogue, which, he said, was key to the future of Serbia and Kosovo.

“We believe there is a permanent solution for the license plates, and that we are not far from implementing an energy agreement and an agreement on missing persons. As State Secretary (Anthony) Blinken said to Kosovo’s president and prime minister during their visit to Washington, a debate on the Community of Serb Municipalities should begin,” Escobar said.