Serb Mayors in Kosovo Invited to Meeting

Photo Besnik Belimi: Beta/Printscreen/YouTube

The acting deputy premier of Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, who is also Pristina’s chief negotiator in the dialogue with Belgrade in Brussels, stated on Feb. 11 that the process of integration of the educational and health institutions functioning within Serbia’s system would begin within the next five or six weeks.

Bislimi told Ratio Television Kosovo that, in this context, the acting minister for local administration, Elbert Krasniqi, sent an invitation to all the mayors of Serb-majority municipalities to a meeting on Friday, Feb. 13. “The invitation was sent last week. So far, we have received one confirmation of attendance. It would be good for the mayors to demonstrate as much responsibility as possible in this phase, because the well-being of their citizens largely depends on the approach they will show in the coming weeks,” he said.

In his words, the mayors have the key role in this process, since they have broad authority in the fields of education and health, and the designated budgets for financing these sectors. He added that the mayors of Serb-majority municipalities had greater authority than others and that Serbia was allowed to financially assist those municipalities.

Bislimi pointed out that the problem was not in implementing the law, but in the institutions that had to be “legalized and legitimized” within Kosovo’s legal system. “Time is needed for these institutions to be incorporated into the legal framework of Kosovo,” he said, adding that “there is an initiative” for a step forward to be made in the integration of the health and educational systems right now.