Prenkaj: Due to the institutional crisis in Kosovo, Bislimi has no legitimacy to negotiate in Brussels

Diplomat and former Kosovo Ambassador to Italy, Albert Prenkaj, stated that because of the political and institutional crisis in Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi has no legitimacy and is not in a position to assume any decisive responsibility in the negotiations taking place in Brussels, including the issue of forming the Community of Serb Municipalities.

“I don’t think Bislimi is in a position to assume any decisive responsibility because of the political situation. As you know, since the beginning of this year, specifically after the elections in February, Kosovo has not had a legitimate and legal government that could take responsibility for any issues of internal or foreign policy,” Prenkaj told Kosovo Online.

Commenting on yesterday’s round of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels, Prenkaj reminded that the Brussels, or rather the Ohrid Agreement of 2023, is a “binding document for both Kosovo and Serbia,” which was accepted by Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic.

“The ultimate goal of that agreement is the creation of a legally binding agreement on the comprehensive normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia,” he stated.

He specified that the key points of the Ohrid Agreement, especially points 4 and 5, explicitly regulate that both sides will urgently support the already negotiated Declaration on Missing Persons, and that Kosovo will immediately launch negotiations within the EU-facilitated dialogue to achieve an adequate level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo, in line with previous agreements reached in the dialogue.

“All points of the agreement are binding for both sides in the dialogue, so for Kosovo this means implementing the Community of Serb Municipalities, while the Serbian side is obliged to cooperate in handing over the bodies of the missing,” Prenkaj clarified.

He emphasized that these are only two of the many points of the 2023 Brussels, i.e. Ohrid, negotiations, which were the subject of yesterday’s trilateral talks in Brussels.

He explained that the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities is a matter for the Constitutional Court, and that it is up to the new Kosovo government to submit that document to the institution.