Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, stated that it is impossible to discuss the Association of Serb-majority municipalities while “neglecting reciprocal recognition.”
In an interview with KosovaPress, Kurti emphasized that he does not accept the Association being at the center of Kosovo-Serbia relations.
“That document [the draft statute of the Association] was proposed by mediators, unsigned, and as such, it could not have been sent to the Constitutional Court. Therefore, I believe we should focus on the basic agreement, Article 7 talks about self-management for the Serb community, and it should be addressed there. Article 10 discusses all previous agreements that are legally binding. Now, I don’t believe that the center of Kosovo-Serbia relations is, or should be, the Association; it is reciprocal recognition,” said Kurti.
“We cannot talk about the Association of Serb-majority municipalities while abandoning reciprocal recognition. Therefore, the center of the basic agreement is at least de facto reciprocal recognition. I do not deny that the predecessors signed the Association twice, in 2013 and 2015, but at the same time, I do not accept the Association being placed at the center of Kosovo-Serbia relations,” he added.
Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on the Brussels Agreement in February 2023, and the Ohrid Annex in March of that year, but there has been no implementation.
While stressing that Serbia has violated the agreement, Kurti mentioned the failure to “refer the violations of the agreement.”
“I believe that if something has failed, it is the referral regarding the violations of the agreement because Serbia has violated the agreement it accepted, and then, the judges, the referees — Brussels did not react. This is the failure. We cannot expect the implementation of an agreement if there is no punishment for its violations, so while an agreement is not implemented, it should not be violated, and this has been tolerated by Brussels for Serbia,” Kurti explained.
Regarding the sequencing plan for implementing the agreement, Kurti stated that he does not expect official Belgrade to show constructiveness.
“We must now wait for the new High Representative, Vice President Kaja Kallas, and her initiative for the way forward. I believe the ball is in the mediator’s court in this regard because we cannot expect that Belgrade will suddenly become a constructive actor and say ‘yes, let’s sign the agreement and implement it with a sequencing plan.’ Their destructiveness has been increasing, so we expect the mediators to stop this destructiveness from the other side,” Kurti concluded.
