In November 2022, the Serbs left Kosovo’s institutions. Their reintegration was recently re-established after Vucic’s request. While in the municipalities and the assembly their empty chairs were replaced, in the prosecutor’s office, the court and the police did not. The KJC said that the issue of returning judges will be reviewed in due course, while the KPC said that they have not yet received requests from Serbian prosecutors to return to office. Kosovo Prosecutorial Council said that they have not received any request from Serbian prosecutors for return to duty.
“We inform you that the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) has not received any request from the prosecutors of the Serbian community for their return to the prosecutorial system, so their resignations have not yet been dealt with by the KPC and at the moment they are dealt with we will inform you in time.”
Meanwhile, yesterday, the Kosovo Judicial Council said that this issue will be reviewed at the moment that the KJC considers that it is the right time and according to the procedure established for such situations.
” The Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC) informs all media and interested parties that it remains close to the previously stated position that the issue of resignations of judges and administration of the Serb community will be considered at the moment when the KJC considers that it is the right time and according to the procedure established for such situations, ” reads the KJC’s.
Serbs in November 2022 renounced Kosovo’s institutions in revolt against the government’s decision on license plates. They were replaced in the assembly and the municipality, but not in the courts, the prosecutor and the police.
A week ago, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic came up with several demands, including the return of Serbs to institutions.
Vucic’s call for the reintegration of Serbs into institutions was welcomed by the European Union.
“We welcome the willingness expressed by President Vucic to continue engaging in the EU-facilitated dialogue. We also positively receive his call for Kosovo Serbs to participate in the elections in Kosovo and reintegrate into all Kosovo institutions, from which they left in 2022,” EU spokesman Peter Stano told RFE / RL.
Meanwhile, the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, on Tuesday said that Vucic’s request for the return of Serbs to Kosovo institutions is not sincere. According to her, it is rhetoric to distract attention from Serbia’s attempts at destabilization.
Osmani added that Kosovo is interested in Serbs being in institutions as they are entitled to under the Constitution.
“We are interested in the Serbs being in institutions, which belongs to both the Constitution and the Ahtisaari package. Kosovo is multiethnic not because Vucic says it, but because it belongs to the Constitution. I don’t think at any point in my life that WYSIWYG has that goal. It seems that ser is only working on destabilizing the region and going back to the ‘ 90s,” Osmani said.
On Tuesday after the meeting in Brussels, First Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi spoke to reporters, where he was asked about Vucic’s “measures”. He said it is worrying that Vucic’s statements have not met with a strong reaction from the European Commission and the European Union.
“Today’s meeting was initially called before Mr. Vucic’s declaration. Mr. Vucic is very general with statements, you find it almost every day on television. What has been worrying for me, not the content, the reporting or the findings, but the fact that these findings of His have not met with concern or backlash from the European Commission or the European Union, but what has been chosen is that from a 40 or 50 minute speech to be chosen two minutes that can be interpreted positively and the whole reaction was taken with those two minutes and not with the very dangerous content of this address.”
While the Speaker of the Assembly, Glauk Konjufca, told reporters that such a move would be unconstitutional, while Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla said that Vucic, with his demands, intends to continue the “instrumentalization of Serbs” of Kosovo.
Regarding Vucic’s request for early elections in the North, minister of Local Government Administration Elbert Krasniqi said that they could be held in April or October 2025.
“To be clear, elections in the four northern municipalities can be held during April 2025, but since the calendar for local elections is set for October of the same year, then I do not see the possibility that elections in these municipalities will be held in April. This is enabled by the administrative instruction of the government”, said Krasniqi for the media “Arberia”.
