Battle for CSM Statute preserves Serbs' rights

The management team, consisting of representatives of Serbian municipalities from Kosovo, should present the draft of the Statute of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities at the next round of high-level Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. The text was finished in 2018, and the management team received a mandate from the EU to begin writing the statute, based on the agreements reached in 2013 and 2015 within the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, but now it will have a "premiere" in the public, Novosti writes.

This schedule was confirmed once again at the technical round of the dialogue two days ago during the conversation between Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic and Pristina's representative, Besnik Bislimi.

According to Novosti, the two parties are then expected to present their views on the statute draft in the dialogue. In addition, Pristina agreed for the first time to discuss concrete steps for the formation of the CSM.

All of the agreement's points were translated into the management team's text, which envisages the CSM consisting of municipalities with a majority Serbian population, that it has a president, a statute, an assembly, a council, a board, an administration, and an appeals office, and that the main goals and core competences are to strengthen local democracy, provide full supervision for the development of the local economy and in the field of education, improve primary and secondary health and social care, coordinate urban and rural planning, and adopt measures to improve the living conditions of returnees in Kosovo.

The community will work with the central authorities in accordance with the principles of mutual cooperation and information exchange, will promote the interests of the Serbian community, has the right to propose amendments to laws and other regulations, to initiate or participate in proceedings before the competent courts, including the Constitutional Court, and will oppose all acts or decisions of each institution that affect the exercise of the jurisdiction of the CSM - this is part of the CSM agreement.

The CSM should have the right to property, to be a co-owner of companies that provide local services within the scope of the CSM, and to conclude contracts, including work contracts.

According to the agreement, the CSM can be dissolved only by a decision of its Assembly, which was adopted by a two-thirds majority of the member municipalities. It has the right to its official symbols, coat of arms, and flag, in accordance with Kosovo laws.

At the meeting at the technical level, according to Novosti's findings, the term that will be used in the Declaration on Missing Persons was also agreed upon. The term is "forcibly disappeared".

"This is important because of the families of all those who are still missing. I would add that we took special care of all the terms and did not accept the term "enforced disappearance" because we took care not to endanger Serbia's state interests," the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija said.

The term "enforced disappearance" is in the international convention, and based on it, if it had passed, the burden of all disappearances in Kosovo could have been placed on Serbia, which the state of Serbia saw through and thwarted.

Money from Belgrade

In terms of the budget, it is planned that the CSM will have its own treasury, which will be funded by member contributions, income, and funds from CSM services, its companies, or the property, transfers of funds from the central authorities, contributions, non-refundable loans, and donations, as well as through financial support from other associations and organizations, domestic and international, as well as from the Republic of Serbia. The CSM is exempt from paying taxes.