Stosic: Kurti's signature worthless for Serbs; membership in the CoE should be conditioned on the formation of the CSM

The program manager of the NGO Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture, Slobodan Stosic, regarding a letter from high Kosovo officials to the Council of Europe's rapporteur for Kosovo's accession, Dora Bakoyannis, in which they commit to respecting all provisions of the Brussels and Ohrid agreements, including the formation of the CSM, says that Serbs in Kosovo have lost trust and do not believe that Prime Minister Albin Kurti's signature guarantees that anything will be resolved.

"In theory, the signature of an official should be worth a lot, but considering the experience we all know, what happened with the CSM and other obligations from the Brussels agreement, I don't know how much trust the people living here can have in such a statement. His signature, especially among non-majority communities, especially Serbs, is not taken seriously, and they do not think that anything will be resolved by that signature," he says.

The letter should be a guarantee, Stosic notes, but if the president of the parliamentary group of Self-Determination, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, stated that it was just a formality, then the ruling coalition will probably treat that letter as such.

"We will not experience any guarantees or consequences after that letter," he says.

Our interlocutor states that Kosovo's entry into the CoE should be conditioned on the formation of the CSM.

"Although I hope for it, I do not expect its formation in the near future. Maybe this year the CSM statute will be submitted to the Constitutional Court for a review of its constitutionality. That is something I expect, and the formation itself will be a lengthy and painful process for both sides," Stosic believes.