Sajn: Kosovo's Laws on Citizenship and Property counterproductive compared to the Brussels Agreement

Zeljko Sajn, correspondent for "Politika" from Skopje, tells Kosovo Online that all of Pristina's moves, including the adoption of the Draft Law on Citizenship and amendments to the Law on Property Rights, are counterproductive compared to what was outlined in the Brussels Agreement, which aims to achieve the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

At the end of last year, Kosovo adopted the Draft Law on Citizenship, which Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated "particularly facilitates the acquisition of documents for persons with permanent residency permits under exceptional circumstances, including Albanians from Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac who have been living in Kosovo for many years." A few days ago, the Kosovo Government approved amendments to the Law on Property Rights of Foreign Citizens in Kosovo, enabling Albanians living in these three municipalities in Serbia to acquire property rights in Kosovo.

"If these are exceptional circumstances, then there is a discriminatory connotation. If these are ordinary matters, then we cannot qualify. However, this cannot have the true significance of obtaining citizenship when the goals of the Brussels Agreement have not yet been achieved," Sajn points out.

According to him, when citizenship is acquired and such parliamentary power is obtained by individuals – allowing them to decide and express themselves – it takes on a different form of democracy.

"However, the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is specific, and it needs to be viewed from other perspectives – within the framework of those global interests, it is a question of who allows and what happens in Kosovo," Sajn says.

He notes that all these initiatives and actions being initiated and created in Kosovo result in a different, counterproductive relationship compared to what was outlined in the Brussels Agreement, which aims to achieve normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

"Even this agreement, which was directed by France and Germany through the Ohrid Agreement, does not provide a great perspective, in relation to the behavior of Albin Kurti in Pristina. Another fact that must be considered is that every agreement signed by Germany has never resulted in a peaceful resolution anywhere," Sajn says.

He points out that Germany signed the Minsk Agreement and the Brussels Agreement, but also the change to the Constitution in North Macedonia with the Bulgarian initiative.

"Everywhere one looks, there is no peace," Sajn concludes.