The Brussels Agreement signed on this day – 13 years without the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities

Thirteen years ago today, in Brussels, the First Agreement on Principles Governing the Normalization of Relations between Belgrade and Pristina—better known as the Brussels Agreement—was signed. It was the first time that the establishment of the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (CSM) in Kosovo was envisaged, a body which the Kosovo authorities have yet to establish to this day.

Under this agreement, the CSM was to comprise the following municipalities: Leposavic, North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, Gracanica, Novo Brdo, Ranilug, Partes, Klokot, and Strpce.

The agreement was reached two years after the EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina began, and six months after the first meeting between the then Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaçi.

The two initialed the agreement in the presence of the then EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.

As with many agreements concluded later within the dialogue, differing interpretations of the document emerged from the two sides on the very day it was signed.

Belgrade stated that the maximum possible had been secured for the Serbian people in Kosovo and that the CSM would have executive powers, while Pristina’s interpretation was that the agreement guaranteed Kosovo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Over time, the provisions containing obligations for Belgrade were implemented, whereas the first six points relating to the Community—falling under the responsibility of the Pristina side—remain unimplemented to this day.

That Brussels has not forgotten this agreement was confirmed three days ago, when the European Union stated that it expects both Kosovo and Serbia to fully respect and implement all their obligations stemming from the dialogue, including the 2013 Brussels Agreement, which was ratified by a two-thirds majority in the Kosovo Assembly.

However, the pressure on Pristina—long expected by Belgrade from Brussels to ensure the establishment of the CSM—has not materialized in recent years.

Meanwhile, the CSM, originally conceived as a mechanism for safeguarding the individual and collective rights of Serbs in Kosovo, has been consistently portrayed in a highly negative light in the Kosovo public, resulting in a lack of political will among Albanian parties to implement the Brussels Agreement.

The first point of the document states that the Community will include municipalities in Kosovo where Serbs constitute a majority, and that membership will be open to any other municipality subject to the consent of existing members.

The second point provides that the CSM will be established on the basis of a statute.

Notably, the draft statute of the CSM presented by the European Union to Belgrade and Pristina in 2023, and accepted in principle by both sides, has yet to be submitted by the Government of Kosovo to the Constitutional Court for review—an envisaged interim step prior to its adoption.

The third point addresses the structure of the CSM, which is to include a president, vice president, assembly, and council.

The fourth point concerns its competences, stating that the Community will exercise full oversight in the areas of economic development, education, healthcare, and urban and rural planning, while the fifth point notes that it may also be entrusted with additional competences by the central authorities.

“The Community will have a representative role vis-à-vis the central authorities and, to that end, will have a seat in the Communities Consultative Council. For the purpose of exercising this role, a monitoring function is envisaged,” reads the sixth point.

The seventh point stipulates that all police in northern Kosovo will be integrated into the framework of the Kosovo Police.

It further provides that members of other Serbian security structures will be offered positions in equivalent Kosovo institutions.

“There will be a regional police commander for the four northern municipalities with a Serb majority (North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, and Leposavic). This commander will be a Kosovo Serb appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs from a list submitted by the four mayors on behalf of the Community. The composition of the Kosovo Police in the north will reflect the ethnic composition of the population of these four municipalities. (There will also be another regional police commander for the municipalities of South Mitrovica, Srbica, and Vucitrn.) The regional commander of the four northern municipalities will cooperate with other regional commanders,” states point 9.

The agreement also envisages the integration of judicial authorities into Kosovo’s legal system, the organization of municipal elections in the northern municipalities in 2013 in accordance with Kosovo legislation and international standards, as well as the intensification of talks on energy and telecommunications.

“It was agreed that neither side will block, or encourage others to block, the other side’s progress on its respective path toward the EU,” the document also states.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said yesterday in an interview for Kosovo Online that he is convinced Pristina will not establish the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities.

He also stated that the Serbian side had implemented the Brussels Agreement in good faith, while being misled by the Kosovo Albanian side and its leadership, and even more so by the third signatory, the European Union.