Head of the EU Office in Kosovo: Pristina Should Submit Draft Statute of Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities to Constitutional Court

Kosovska Mitrovica (BETAPHOTO/Armenija Zajmi Besevic)

Tomas Szunyog, the outgoing head of the EU Office in Kosovo, has said that Pristina should submit to the Constitutional Court for opinion a draft Statute of an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities, a pledge made by top three Kosovo officials.

He also said that creation of an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities was Kosovo’s international obligation, agreed to back in 2013 and ratified in the Kosovo assembly. Szunyog further said that the EU had proposed a draft text of the Statute which Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti had been ready to sign last October, noting that the draft document took into account the red lines of both sides and should be forwarded to the Constitutional Court. 

Speaking to agency Ekonomia Online, Szunyog said that in their joint letter to the Council of Europe, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Premier Albin Kurti and parliament speaker Glauk Konjufca had promised to create and Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities. Therefore, he added, it should be done, and the sooner it had been done, it would be better for Kosovo’s progress on its EU path. 

“So, from this point of view, I believe there is a clear interest of Kosovo, but of course, the interest of Serbia to achieve full normalization of relations, meaning primarily implementing the agreement from February 2023, as well as all previously achieved agreements,” Szunyog said.