Andric Rakic on half-year of Albanian mayors' mandate: Municipalities function with difficulty, situation significantly worsened

In the past six months of the mandate of illegitimate Albanian mayors, elected in the elections in April that Serbs boycotted, the situation in the municipalities in the north has significantly worsened, making it challenging for citizens to access various services, Milica Andric Rakic, program manager of the non-governmental organization New Social Initiative from Kosovo, says.

Discussing the effects of the six-month work of the new local authorities in the four northern municipalities predominantly inhabited by Serbs, Andric Rakic points out that there have been no significant changes.

"The only one who announced potentially problematic decisions was the mayor of North Mitrovica, Erden Atiq. In the end, he did not implement those decisions. In terms of services, the situation is very bad, except for North Mitrovica; in other municipalities, it is not possible to obtain services from either the Serbian or the Kosovo system. In fact, everything has been moved to alternative locations in both systems, and in that sense, it is significantly more difficult for citizens to access services, and now they have to go to multiple locations to complete one administrative matter. From the perspective of services, the situation has significantly worsened, while from a political aspect, we cannot say that there were any political decisions that have made a significant change on the ground. There were announcements for numerous decisions, but most of them did not materialize in the end," she said.

Andric Rakic reminded of the difficult functioning of institutions since the new mayors took over their mandates.

"Most of the services provided in municipalities, in terms of cleaning and other municipal services, are provided by public utility companies from the Serbian system. We cannot see much effect from the institutions of the Kosovo system. Public utility companies from the Serbian system have certain limitations in their work; we also have cases of suspending the construction of certain facilities. They do what is necessary, they work at half capacity and maybe less than that. You can really feel and see it when it comes to repairing roads or something similar; there is a certain moment of hesitation when Serbian institutions are probably not sure whether to react, and Kosovo institutions do not have that capacity. It is evident that there is no longer that kind of coordination that existed before," Andric Rakic emphasizes.

Regarding the impression that the issue of new elections in the four northern municipalities has been put on the back burner, our interlocutor says that they are still a key condition of the international community, and that is why the punitive measures imposed by the EU on Kosovo have not been lifted.

"The messages from the international community are still that they prefer the mayors' resignations, not a petition, but I think now everyone understands, considering the elections in Serbia, that there will be no significant progress in the dialogue for a long time, which is why everyone is now withdrawing a bit in that regard. Also, the holiday season is coming; most people will be on vacation, and we really cannot expect the kinds of pressures that existed until now and frequent visits from representatives of the international community before mid-January. In general, the situation in the world is getting more complicated, many hotspots are diverting attention from the Balkans," Andric Rakic concludes.