Surlic: Votes of Serbian MPs are a crucial barrier against arbitrary actions by Pristina authorities

Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Stefan Surlic, tells Kosovo Online that it is extremely important for the Kosovo parliament to have a stable majority within the ten guaranteed seats for the Serbian community, especially in light of the announcements by the Self-determination Movement and Albin Kurti about plans to amend the Kosovo Constitution in several sectors.

"Any constitutional amendment or new provisions are impossible without Serbian representatives and without a two-thirds majority within the total number of seats allocated to minority communities. This serves as an essential barrier against arbitrary actions by authorities in Pristina," Surlic said.

He explains that when adopting or amending laws concerning the vital interests of minority communities in Kosovo, including the Serbian community, there is a so-called double majority system – requiring a majority of the total number of MPs as well as a majority from representatives of minority communities.

"This applies to all laws related to municipal authorities, particularly in municipalities with a Serbian majority, potential changes to municipal boundaries, language use, citizens' personal status rights, cultural heritage, and other matters within the scope of special rights belonging to the Serbian community. This body of laws can only be amended with a double majority, meaning the support of the ten Serbian MPs and other minority representatives is necessary," Surlic explained.

He reminds, however, that there were instances where the prescribed normative procedures were circumvented, as in the case of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF).

"They were not formally named the Kosovo Army, and it was argued that there was no need to amend the Constitution because they did not want to face a situation where Serbian representatives in parliament could block the decision. Instead, they stuck to the existing law and defined the security forces as part of Kosovo's security framework. In practice, however, with the help of NATO countries, they have almost completely structured their security forces in line with a conventional army," Surlic stated.