The U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, has addressed the issue of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities and the draft statute prepared by the EU.
Hovenier stated that the U.S. expects the Government of Kosovo to take action to send the draft statute to the Constitutional Court, emphasizing that “this is the government’s choice.”
“But, to be clear, this is not an informal document, it is not something we have just handed over casually. A delegation composed of the highest-ranking EU official responsible for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, national security advisors, close advisors to the Chancellor of Germany, the President of France, the Prime Minister of Italy, and the U.S. Special Envoy for Kosovo and Serbia, came and delivered that document saying: We believe this creates an Association of Serb Majority Municipalities that addresses all the raised concerns, does not require changes to your constitution, has no executive power, does not create another layer of governance.”
“So, it has quite significant status. And as we have told Kosovo, we believe it is good enough and sufficient for Kosovo to fulfill its obligations by using this draft. This is very powerful. These are not just a series of ideas from some advisory organization. So, our best advice for the government of Kosovo is to seize this opportunity to move it forward. There is only one body on the planet that can truly decide whether this draft statute complies with the Constitution of Kosovo – the Constitutional Court of Kosovo itself,” Hovenier said in an interview on Rubikon on Klan Kosova.
He further stated that the U.S. and the EU would respect any decision of the Constitutional Court, while adding that they would expect Kosovo to do the same, as he also addressed the proposal of Prime Minister Albin Kurti to send the draft to the Venice Commission by the special envoy, Miroslav Lajčák.
“I don’t know the purpose of this proposal. Again, I don’t believe… We respect the Venice Commission very much, but many respected experts were involved in drafting this statute. I don’t think we fear whatever the Venice Commission might do with it, but it doesn’t solve the fundamental problem. The issue as I understand it or as I have heard from the government is that they are not convinced that the draft statute complies with the Constitution of Kosovo.”
“The Venice Commission cannot make such a conclusion. But do you know who can? The Constitutional Court of Kosovo. So, let’s send the draft with some – again, you are right, the Prime Minister is right, the government of Kosovo must somehow give it some status beyond its current status to send it to the Constitutional Court. But from our perspective, it would be good for the government to take that step,” he said.
