Milicevic: Healthcare and education are parts of the Brussels Agreement, they should have been regulated through the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM)

By resolving open issues like the education and healthcare systems through unilateral actions, Priština is attempting to push aside the Brussels negotiating process, said Miodrag Milicevic, Executive Director of the NGO "Aktiv," pointing out that these issues should be regulated through the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) and with the involvement of the Serbian population in Kosovo.

Commenting on the statement by Kosovo's Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, who said that the healthcare and education systems would be treated differently from other Serbian institutions but would no longer function within the Serbian system and would have their activities defined under Kosovo's laws, Milicevic remarked that this is not the first time such statements have been made and that this represents a precedent, as these matters are part of the Brussels Agreement and should be resolved through that process.

"Recently, there has been increasing talk about the education and healthcare systems in Kosovo, which continue to function within the Republic of Serbia's system. This is a precedent being set, even in the public domain, preparing the wider public for possible scenarios that may unfold in the coming months," Milicevic told Kosovo Online.

He emphasizes that the danger of this statement and these efforts lies in the continuous attempt to sideline the Brussels negotiating process and resolve open issues, such as the education and healthcare systems, as well as the financing of the Serbian community in Kosovo, through unilateral actions.

"These are all parts of the Brussels Agreement, and they should all have been part of the Community of Serb Municipalities, meaning that all these issues should have been regulated through the Community of Serb Municipalities and in consultation with the Serbian population," says Milicevic.

Unfortunately, what is particularly concerning, Milicevic points out, is the passive reaction of the international community, especially the EU, which should have been much more agile and proactive in addressing this issue through the Brussels process.

Additionally, Milicevic states that the EU should have insisted more actively that all these open issues be resolved in the way that was agreed upon back in 2013, which is through the Brussels process.