Analysts: The annexation of North Mitrovica to the Association of Kosovo Municipalities is a provocation with no deeper meaning

The decision of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly to join the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, which was made at the proposal of the newly elected mayor of that municipality, Erden Atic, is a kind of provocation with no deeper meaning, according to the interlocutors of the newspaper Danas.

Political scientist Ognjen Gogic says that such a decision has no practical significance.

"The new leadership of the municipality of North Mitrovica probably wants to send a political message. It means that the municipality is able to function and make decisions, to move forward with activities and, especially, to bring it on the same level as other municipalities in Kosovo south of the Ibar," Gogic says.

According to him, that move is, of course, also a kind of a provocation.

"There is an intention to create a belief in the public that the entry of the municipality of North Mitrovica into the Association creates obstacles for its later accession to the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities. This is not true. There is no incompatibility in this regard. There are no obstacles for North Mitrovica to be a part of both associations of municipalities. If the Serbs return to the institutions and the composition of the assembly changes, North Mitrovica can withdraw from the Association. After all, municipalities with a Serb majority south of the Ibar are already part of that Association, so this has no particular significance for their position," Gogic assesses.

And Marko Milenkovic from the New Social Initiative believes that this decision is not very significant, except that it causes media attention.

"Thus, it additionally contributes to the nervousness of the local population and to raising tensions between communities, but I do not see any important aspect of it. The Association of Kosovo Municipalities was founded in 2001, after the first elections in Kosovo, immediately after the conflict, and it aims to represent, or advocate the interests of the members.

Membership in that association does not significantly change the position of the municipality of North Mitrovica, nor does it directly affect its population in any way," Milenkovic explains.

He states that the association's agenda includes strengthening democracy at the local level, decentralization, and improving municipal services and competencies.

"The municipality of North Mitrovica is the first municipality from the north of Kosovo that will become a part of this association, and when that decision is made by political representatives that 95 percent of citizens consider illegitimate, at this moment it has a very negative effect on the already bad atmosphere within the Serbian community,” Milenkovic concludes.