Vuletic: Osmani used the Serbian judge as a pretext to prolong the institutional crisis in Kosovo

The decision by Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani to withdraw her request from the Constitutional Court over the appointment of a Serbian judge is actually an attempt to once again delay the formation of institutions in Kosovo, says sociologist Vladimir Vuletic in a statement for Kosovo Online.

“This is just a pretext to avoid forming a government in Kosovo. We’ve seen various excuses so far, and this is just the latest one,” Vuletic told Kosovo Online.

Osmani announced at yesterday’s press conference that she is withdrawing her July 22 request to the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly.

She cited as the reason her “immediate reaction” to the appointment of Serbian judge Radomir Laban as the reporting judge in the case.

Vuletic, however, believes that today’s visit by Peter Sørensen to Pristina should also be interpreted as the EU’s attempt to “unblock” the institutional crisis in Kosovo.

“I believe Sørensen came, among other things, to help unblock the process. Whether he will succeed remains to be seen,” Vuletic said.

He therefore doubts that Osmani’s singling out of Constitutional Court judge Radomir Laban is the real reason for her decision.

“I wouldn't say it’s just because he is Serbian. They have no problem with other Serbs who accept the legitimacy of so-called Kosovo participating in government. But this was a convenient pretext to send a message to her voters and to justify what I would call a very deliberate and conscious delay in forming a government in Pristina,” Vuletic noted.

When asked whether Osmani’s decision constitutes direct disrespect toward the Constitutional Court, Vuletic replied that in Kosovo, the rule of law has always been “a secondary concern.”

“This is purely a political struggle, and the law is then used as a sort of ‘cement’ resulting from those political battles. The law is always secondary in Kosovo,” Vuletic concluded.