Mijacic: There will be more obstructions to the dismissal of mayors

Dragisa Mijacic, the Coordinator of the National Convention on the EU for Chapter 35, states that the collection of signatures within the petition for the dismissal of the mayors in northern Kosovo will serve as pressure on the authorities in Pristina to organize new elections, however, he doesn't believe that this will happen in the near future. As he says for Kosovo Online, the first step in initiating the petition has been accepted with difficulty, and the next one will likely face various obstructions.

"There is also the question of whether the Administrative Instruction on the procedure for initiating a petition, provided by the Ministry of Local Government, is in line with the Constitution or not. One of the obstructions may be that the Constitutional Court, in some process, shows that the instruction is unconstitutional, and thus, the initiative fails," Mijacic notes.

He mentions that Serbs in the north have organized themselves by municipalities to collect signatures, but it remains to be seen how it will be accepted in Pristina.

"There is a lot on the agenda at the moment, so there will probably be various technical, administrative, and legal obstructions to prevent the holding of elections in the northern municipalities in the foreseeable future," Mijacic says.

When asked about the sense of mayoral elections if there are no new elections for municipal assemblies or councilors, Mijacic states that it would still be good to organize elections for mayors and councilors, and there might be a possibility of holding general elections.

However, he emphasizes that it means nothing if there is no formation of the CSM, which is of interest to Serbs in the north and other parts of Kosovo. According to Mijacic, negotiations on the formation of the CSM might be more critical than organizing elections.

"What is most important at the moment is for the Kosovo government to implement the conclusions of the European Commission from June 3, which require the relocation of mayors from municipal buildings and police units from those facilities. I would remind you that the EU introduced some kind of punitive measures against Kosovo because this has not changed," Mijacic points out.

He also highlights that a recent study by Kosovo analysts showed somewhat more positive attitudes in Albanian society toward the formation of the CSM.

"That is the biggest issue, while others, such as organizing elections in the north, may not be a key topic at the moment. The key is to maintain peace in the north, and sobriety, to avoid incidents that would be a threat to the lives of citizens, police officers, KFOR members, journalists... The most important thing is to enter political processes and then, of course, to organize general elections at some point, both for councilors and mayors, and why not for MPs in the Kosovo Parliament, to apply everything accepted within the dialogue process," Mijacic concludes.