Voice of America: How Rama's plan for the Association was received in Kosovo

The government of Kosovo has not yet commented on the initiative of the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, for the drafting of a draft statute for the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo, which was received with divided positions of the opposition parties in the country.

A part of the opposition appreciated Mr. Rama's initiative, while the other part said that the drafting of the project belongs only to the government of Kosovo.

Although the government has not yet made any comments, the head of the parliamentary group of the Vetëvëndosje movement in power, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, said that any action regarding the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities must first pass in Kosovo before going in the hands of the international community.

"That document is for Kosovo and before I go there it must be of Kosovo, with Kosovo, for the citizens of Kosovo.

Therefore, I have nothing else to add, if someone takes it or feels that they have the patronage over a process that they don't have and pushes forward something like this," she said.

Enver Hoxhaj, from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, in a conversation with Voice of America, said that Prime Minister Rama's proposal is a right and proper step that serves Kosovo's goal of extending sovereignty to its entire territory.

"I think that Prime Minister Rama is right and has the opportunity to make such a proposal on how to overcome the situation in the north of the country and whether a German foundation like the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung or other institutions have the right to come up with proposals like they have done during the last years, then Prime Minister Rama's approach to give you an idea is very legitimate," said Mr. Hoxhaj.

The head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic League of Kosovo, Arben Gashi, in a reaction on social networks, said that only the government of Kosovo is responsible for drafting the association's charter.

From the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, the head of the parliamentary group, Besnik Tahiri, said that such an initiative indicates a very low level of cooperation between Albania and Kosovo.

"We as the Alliance do not know what the document is, therefore this is a confidential document, a communication of Prime Minister Rama to the media about an issue that is directly related to the internal organization of Kosovo. But we don't know what the communication is between the government of Kosovo and the government of Albania", he said.

Prime Minister Rama said that he has informed the president of the European Council about this draft statute, but this institution did not respond to the interest of the Voice of America to confirm whether it has accepted this document and to give the first assessments about the initiative, until the preparation of this material.

Kosovo and Serbia in 2013 agreed on the establishment of the Association within the talks mediated by the European Union where the parties have been involved for more than a decade with the aim of normalizing relations.

In August 2015, the parties agreed on its principles and 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 commitment to establish the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority was renewed in the Brussels and Ohrid agreement between Kosovo and Serbia this year, which is a condition for the integration of both parties in the European Union. /VOA