Albania's draft proposal for the Association receives an immediate response from the EU

Several diplomatic sources in the European Union, who say they had the opportunity to see the draft text for the Association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, submitted by the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, told Radio Free Europe that, "the text is written very seriously, and in terms of the way of writing it has a very high quality".

Therefore, according to the sources, "the test is being analyzed carefully".

But, in the questions about whether this draft will be taken into account, in order to advance the dialogue, these sources said that "this text is seen as a contribution in this direction, as well as other drafts that have been worked on so far by various non-governmental organizations ".

"It is not so important how the EU handles this draft, but how the parties, Pristina and Belgrade, handle it. It is up to them, within the dialogue, to advance in the direction of fulfilling this obligation", said an EU diplomat.

The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, said on June 8 that he sent a draft for the Association to the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

Rama said that the document is confidential, but expressed his conviction that it is "a document of the highest international level that takes into consideration all the reasons for the creation of the Association and that the Association is part of the organization of life for Kosovo".

The Government of Kosovo has not yet declared itself regarding the draft proposed by Albania.

In the EU, they say that, in addition to the various drafts that have been presented by various organizations, many "European examples" have also been presented that can serve as a model to ensure a proper model of self-management for the Serbian ethnic community in Kosovo.

The establishment of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo is one of Kosovo's obligations, for which the EU and the United States insist the most.

In the last high-level meeting, in the framework of the dialogue between the two countries, a draft for the Association compiled by the Management Team - consisting of four members of the Serbian community - was presented.

This team was dismissed a day later, by the Kosovo authorities.

The draft was immediately rejected by Kosovo, while sources in the EU said that they expected something like this.

Later, Kurti presented a "draft vision", based on the example of Croatia, where there is a National Council for the Serbian community.

The EU insists that there are many models that can be considered and that, if there is good will, even this issue, which has been delayed for so long, can be concluded successfully.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached agreement on the Association in 2013, and then in 2015 on the principles for its establishment.

In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that the agreement is not in full harmony with the Constitution.

Serbia demands that Kosovo implement the agreements reached, but the current Government of Kosovo has declared against a mono-ethnic association./REL