May 4th marked the end of a deadlock between Kosovo’s four Serb-majority northern municipalities and the central government on the status of the municipal budgets in Zveçan/Zvečan, Zubin Potok, Leposaviq/Leposavić and Mitrovicë/Mitrovica North. The stalemate began on February 28th, after the municipalities failed to reach an agreement regarding the exact amount to be allocated to each municipality by the central government as part of the 2015 Kosovo budget. After prolonged discussions and following another round of meetings within the Brussels dialogue, the municipal budgets were modified to be in line with the legal framework and in accordance with the budgets designed by the central government. This political update presents an overview of the causes of the stalemate, incorporating arguments from both sides of the debate, and provides several recommendations on how to avoid similar political deadlocks in the future.

In light of the recent outburst of violence in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica, ECMI Kosovo affirms its position that it is of imperative importance that all incidents are examined individually by the relevant authorities, in a speedy and transparent manner, to prevent further incidents and increase the faith of all citizens in the rule of law. As so often happens, the incidents have quickly been interpreted to be ethnically motivated, although there are no sound grounds to reach such conclusions.

Although the agreement on the formation of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities leaves plenty of room for diverging interpretations, the discussions on the competences and structure of the Association have ignored the few solid legal provisions provided in the Brussels Agreement of 19 April 2013.

The debates surrounding the establishment of the Association and the implementation of the Brussels Agreements relating to the general integration of the Serb community in Kosovo are leading to an increasingly worrisome political deadlock along fixed Albanian–Serb ethnic lines. This Political Analysis, which is the second in a series that wants to add content to the discussion about the Community, in line with ECMI Kosovo’s mission and track-record of dealing with complex ethnic issues in Kosovo over the years, warns against such a narrow Albanian–Serb understanding of Kosovo society, and critically assesses the ethnically-based understanding of the Association.

On 9 March 2015, the political representatives of the non-Serb minority communities in Kosovo evaluated the judiciary agreement, which was reached between Serbia and Kosovo in Brussels last month, as scandalous and in violation of Kosovo laws. The agreement was sent to Assembly Members last Friday, 6 March 2015, almost one month after the agreement was reached in Brussels during the night of 9–10 February. Representatives of the non-Serb minority communities in Kosovo, which include Ashkali, Bosniaks, Egyptians, Gorani, Roma and Turks, have criticised the fact that the judiciary agreement only mentions Serbs and Albanians and completely excludes other communities. They have threatened to take the case to the Constitutional Court and relevant international courts.

The Minister of Diaspora, Valon Murati, has come under fire for linking the illegal emigration from Kosovo to the “privileged” position of minorities in Kosovo. Murati’s statements were widely covered in the media and were condemned by the Consultative Council for Communities, a government body bringing together civil representatives of all non-majority communities in Kosovo.