Surlic: The European draft statute for the CSM is not a non-paper as Kurti presents it

In recent days, representatives of the authorities in Pristina have repeatedly stated that the European draft statute for the Community of Serb Municipalities is unacceptable to them, and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Stefan Surlic, told Kosovo Online that he would not describe this draft as a non-paper, as presented by Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti, but rather as a document that had the green light from leading European Union countries.

As Surlic stated, this draft is currently the only document presumed to be applicable within a legal framework in Kosovo, it has the general agreement of the Serbian side, and EU representatives and experts have concluded that it is a good model for preserving the uniqueness of the Serbian community in Kosovo, its cultural heritage, economic development, and local planning.

“I believe this is a document that has been seriously worked on. EU experts participated in its creation, and importantly, EU countries have agreed on this document. We have heard that Belgrade generally supports this document. Of course, there remains much uncertainty about how something will be implemented on the ground and how what is written on paper will come to life,” Surlic said.

Sending this document to the Constitutional Court for assessment, as our interlocutor stated, would mean that the Kosovo government has committed to it as an official document, has agreed to it, and it can proceed further in the process.

“Given that the leading EU countries have agreed on it, I believe that this document will remain relevant even after Miroslav Lajcak's term ends. I think the first step is to send it to the Constitutional Court, because that would take us out of this vicious circle where the document is only discussed as a non-paper. It means we need to institutionalize it in some way and then actually negotiate the details and elements of the agreement,” Surlic concluded.