The Pristina Rashomon-like situation around the European draft statute for the CSM: what is the fate of this document?

Considering the Kosovo government has sacrificed the opportunity for Kosovo to enter the Council of Europe this month by refusing to submit the European draft statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) to its Constitutional Court for review, the likelihood of addressing this soon is nearly zero, especially as the focus shifts to the upcoming electoral campaign. Officials in Pristina can no longer use the excuse that the draft was not signed by both parties along with other agreements from last year's dialogue; they are now playing on the card of unaccepted comments sent by Pristina to Brussels.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated earlier this month that only if the package of agreements had been accepted and signed in Brussels on October 26, could the draft statute have then been sent to the Constitutional Court. Mimoza Kusari-Lila, leader of the parliamentary group of the Self-Determination Movement, recently mentioned that the reason the draft proposed by the EU is unacceptable to Kosovo is that Pristina's comments were not adopted.

Kusari-Lila noted, "The current draft remains unacceptable to Kosovo; there are major issues within this draft. Kosovo has sent its comments, which were not included in that document. The government did not agree with it."

This situation in Pristina opens up questions about the fate of the European proposal: Will it be put back on the negotiation table in Brussels and when? Will it wait for a new mediator in the dialogue? Before sending it to the Constitutional Court for assessment, should Brussels declare whether there is consensus on the text of the draft by both sides? Perhaps it could even be presented to the public to end the hearsay interpretations of this document?

US Ambassador to Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenier, stated last week that "everyone said that this draft meets the conditions," and regarding Belgrade's stance, Petar Petkovic, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, recently expressed in discussions with ambassadors and representatives of the Quint countries in Belgrade and the head of the EU Delegation to Serbia that the EU-drafted CSM statute could represent a good basis for continuing discussions and agreements on the final statute.

Stefan Surlic, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, told Kosovo Online that since the text of the draft statute is agreed upon by leading EU countries, he believes this document will remain relevant even after the term of Miroslav Lajcak ends.

Surlic suggests that the first step is sending it to the Constitutional Court to break out of the vicious circle of discussing this document only as a non-paper.

"We must institutionalize it in some way, and then actually negotiate what are the nuances within those assumptions and elements of the actual agreement," says Surlic.

He highlights that the European draft is a document greenlit by the leading countries of the European Union and is currently the only document presumed to be applicable in Kosovo within some legal framework. The EU representatives and experts have concluded that it is a good model for preserving the uniqueness of the Serbian community in Kosovo, cultural heritage, economic development, and local planning. Surlic believes it is a seriously worked-on document. He heard that Belgrade generally supports this document, though there remains an area of unknowns about how it will be implemented on the ground and how what is a letter on paper will come to life.

Belgzim Kamberi, Director of the "Musine Kokalari" Institute, notes to Kosovo Online that there are significant divisions between the Government of Kosovo and the Quint regarding the draft statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities, suggesting that the ping-pong game between the authorities in Pristina and the Quint over the CSM is likely to continue.

While the Quint (a group of Western countries), the EU, and the USA suggest that the European draft of the statute for the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) should be submitted to the Constitutional Court, the Government of Kosovo is considering a different model, potentially taking inspiration from Germany's Friedrich Ebert Foundation, according to Belgzim Kamberi. He expresses skepticism about progress on the CSM and the implementation of the Brussels-Ohrid Agreement without new developments in the EU and before elections in Kosovo.

Kamberi also mentions the difficulty in predicting progress with the arrival of a new EU mediator who will succeed Miroslav Lajcak in September, especially considering upcoming U.S. elections and other geopolitical events globally. He sees a current lack of momentum for implementing agreements, especially in Serbia, where there are numerous other concerns, such as the Srebrenica Resolution.

Slobodan Stosic, a program manager at the Center for Advocating Democratic Culture (ACDC), views the EU's offer as a non-final document with many ambiguities, particularly in the draft version that leaked to the media. Issues remain unresolved, such as schools and healthcare facilities in some villages not part of the CSM, suggesting room for negotiation between the draft and the final version. Stosic is not optimistic that these issues can be resolved during Lajcak's term, given the political dynamics in northern Kosovo, where the mayors are Kosovo Albanians, complicating the establishment of the CSM.

Stosic also finds it strange that a draft not yet agreed upon by all sides is being sent for a constitutionality assessment, which could be a precondition for Kosovo's Council of Europe membership, anticipating that the approved version might still undergo minor changes.

These comments reflect ongoing complex negotiations and political maneuvering around the establishment of the CSM, indicating a prolonged and contentious process ahead.