Odalovic: It is no coincidence that the Law on Territorial Organization exempted Albanian villages from the municipalities that are part of the CSM

President of the Committee for Missing Persons Veljko Odalovic says that the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (CSM) should include the already existing ten municipalities where the Serbs live and enable direct contact with the authorities in Pristina, Informer reports.

Odalovic told Tanjug that he was surprised that more and more parties and individuals had come forward to comment on the formation of the CSM.

He pointed out that this was an ongoing process and that it was nothing new, that it was part of the Brussels Agreement that had been signed ten years ago, and which had been preceded by a dozen other special agreements.

"If we go back, we will come to Resolution 1244, which essentially states that essential autonomy must be provided to the people living in Kosovo, but the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is not called into question," Odalovic says, commenting on what preceded the CSM and what it refers to.

He reminded that the CSM was part of the Brussels Agreement, which was the First Agreement on the principles of normalization of relations, and that the CSM had been the essence of that agreement.

"With his plan, which clearly defined the basis of the constitution of the self-proclaimed Kosovo state, Ahtisaari listed the municipalities to be formed, and six municipalities were formed, adding to the existing four, the number increased to 10 municipalities," Odalovic says.

He explains that the CSM is actually something that includes those 10 municipalities, because "it was not accidentally written down and the Law on Territorial Organization of the Self-Proclaimed State that formed those municipalities excluded Albanian villages from those municipalities and left it to be a Serbian majority".

He points out that the guiding principle of the whole story was even earlier that Serbs should go to the elections and win local government where they live according to Kosovo's laws, primarily in the north.

"The CSM was supposed to function so that the Serbs who were in the police service could enter the Kosovo police service and perform their service in Serbian areas, to take care of public order and peace and security," Odalovic says in response to a question about the presence of the Serbian police in the Kosovo government. 

Odalovic adds that the CSM should be tied to a document that should be signed by both sides, Belgrade and Pristina because Belgrade has no problems with its obligations and that is why the resistance of Albin Kurti and everyone around him is greater.

He pointed out that the CSM would enable the Serbs to fulfill some collective rights through it and that this document brought new quality in areas where an agreement had to be reached, but that there would be red lines.