The long-awaited decision of the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the Principles and Main Elements of the 25 August 2015 agreement between Kosovo and Serbia—particularly as it relates to the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities—made it evident there is still much to be done to anchor the Association/Community on solid legal footing.

Throughout 2015, ECMI Kosovo has regularly reported on development affecting communities in Kosovo through its Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor. An important part of our attention went out to the Association/Community of Serb Majority Municipalities. Therefore it is appropriate to devote the final issue of the Monitor for 2015 to the Association and argue for a shift in the discussion. Up to now, the discussion has mainly revolved around obligations stemming from the existing legislation or international agreements. The existing legislation, the Dialogue, and international agreements, however, establish a framework, but don’t predetermine the competences and functioning of the Association. In fact, earlier agreements on the Association leave open many outstanding issues. These should be clarified through an inclusive and careful discussion, which should focus on the question how services in the fields of own or enhanced competencies in Serb-majority municipalities could be carried out in a more efficient and transparent manner through inter-municipal cooperation. Only if there is a clear view on how inter-municipal cooperation between Serb-majority municipalities can improve the provision of municipal services, can we determine how to best frame the way the Association should function and determine its competences.

The renewed incident in Goraždevac/Gorazhdec can no longer be discarded as one in a row of merely isolated incidents. This is a trend of increased intensity that has a negative influence on the security of the Serb community, which is a crucial prerequisite for their integration process in Kosovo. This pattern should be dealt with in the short term (by increasing security measures and acting against those responsible, as well as increasing the number of Kosovo Serb police officers in Serb-majority communities), but also in a more structural way by increasing the trust and reducing the ethnic distance between Albanian and Serbian communities in Kosovo, including at a political level.

The Constitutional Court approved the request made by President Jahjaga to interpret the compatibility of the 25 August agreement with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and suspend all activities produced by the Agreement until it reached a decision. Our newest contribution to the Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor looks into the request and argues that any ruling on the Principles would be speculative in nature at this stage, as the full details on the Statute have not been drafted yet. Further, while a constitutional court review was foreseen for the final agreement, this early involvement of the constitutional court in the process was not foreseen and it is yet unknown what effect it will have on the overall dialogue process.

The final vote on Kosovo’s bid to join UNESCO, expected for Monday 9 November, gave rise to a fierce and unbalanced dispute pro and contra Kosovo’s UNESCO membership, largely along ethnic lines. This newest issue of ECMI Kosovo’s Communities Issues Monitor aims to focus the discussion and provide counterbalance to rising ethnic tensions. It points at the legal framework in place for the protection of Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo, counters claims on the moral right of this or that party to become UNESCO member based on how it treated cultural heritage in the past, and refers to the broader action domain of UNESCO to put in perspective the fears of the Kosovo Serb community about the impact of Kosovo UNESCO membership on Serb cultural heritage in Kosovo.

The quota system in higher level education, designed to offer an opportunity to students from minority communities to apply for and register their studies in Kosovo’s public universities, has been reported to have been misused by students not belonging to minority communities. Issues with the quota system for members of minority communities have been raised repeatedly.