Konjufca: Kosovo outside the dialogue with Serbia, if Association of municipalities against the Constitution is required

2023-05-08 19:25:50, Kosova & Bota CNA

Konjufca: Kosovo outside the dialogue with Serbia, if Association of

The Speaker of the Parliament of Kosovo, Glauk Konjufca

The Speaker of the Parliament of Kosovo, Glauk Konjufca, said today that Kosovo has nothing more to ask for in dialogue with Serbia if the international factors do not think that the solution for the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority is within the Constitution of Kosovo.

He made these comments during a conference with journalists, in response to the statement of the envoy of the European Union for the Kosovo-Serbia talks, Miroslav Lajcak, who wrote on social networks that the first project presented by the management team for the Association's statute did not is final, but "is an important starting point for future discussions at the level of chief negotiators".

The team presented the project during last week's talks between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels.

" If you see the statute and read it carefully, this statute that they presented was correct according to the instructions of Serbia and President (Aleksandar) Vucic because it was a statute with an attempt to create a Serbian Republic within Kosovo and this is anti-constitutional and I think that any anti-constitutional position cannot be the basis for negotiations. There is no logic to start from an anti-constitutional position, which is not in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo, and arrive at the Constitution of Kosovo, you can never arrive there," said Mr. Konjufca .

Mr. Konjufca said that the starting point for the establishment of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority should be within the Constitution of Kosovo.

" I even think that if the important international factors, if the European Union does not think that the solution is within the Constitution of Kosovo, I think that Kosovo has nothing to ask for in that dialogue anymore, Kosovo has no interest in that dialogue. What is our interest in destroying our constitutionality, it will only harm our interests if that is the case ", said Mr. Konjufca.

The Association's draft charter drawn up by a management team consisting of four members of the Serbian community, who have been released from office by decision of the Kosovo government, was rejected by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, who called it incompatible with the constitution and laws of Kosovo but also European values.

Officials of the European Union said that the decision of the Kosovo institutions to dissolve the management team that drafted the statute violates the letter and spirit of the agreement and that the management team should be in operation until the Association's statute is approved.

In the documents about the Association there is no clear definition of how long the mandate of the team would last.

Mr. Konjufca said that the management team for the drafting of the Association's statute was selected by the former Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Goran Rakic, who is the leader of the Serbian List and answers only to the President of Serbia. He said that the government of Kosovo has no obligations towards these actions.

" Do you know why Kosovo is in dialogue? Because he strongly believes in two principles, the first principle we believe that dialogue is for mutual recognition and reason number two we know that any regulation for the rights of the Serbs, any self-management for the rights of the Serbs is within the framework of the Constitution of Kosovo. That if it is the opposite, if this process has the price of destroying the state of Kosovo, of undermining our state, then it is better for us to say goodbye because there is no interest here", said Mr. Konjufca .

Kosovo and Serbia agreed in 2013 on the establishment of the Association, while in August 2015 on its principles. That same year, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that a large part of these principles are in conflict with the Constitution of Kosovo. The implementation of the agreement on the Association continues to remain the main challenge for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia and the return of Serbian employees to the institutions that abandoned them in November of last year./ VOA