Steinbaum: The establishment of the Association by the Kosovo government contradicts the Constitution

2024-10-14 18:45:13, Kosova & Bota CNA

Steinbaum: The establishment of the Association by the Kosovo government

Jason Steinbaum, one of the authors of the report by the Group on Public International Law and Policy/VOA

The Group for International Public Policy and Law in Washington published a report these days in which it says that the requests to the state authorities of Kosovo to establish the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority contradicts the Constitution of Kosovo and that the powers that this constitution provides would be violated. gives to the municipal authorities.

In an interview with Voice of America, one of the authors of the report, Jason Steinbaum, who in the past was an adviser to the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the House Eliot Engel, told his colleague Garentina Kraja that the process of the Association, which is the main issue that has caused the biggest clashes between the United States and Kosovo, has been politicized and that the constitutional way, through which the municipalities can create the association themselves, is a way out of the impasse.

Voice of America: Mr. Steinbaum, in your new report drafted together with Professor Paul Williams, you came to the conclusion that the request to create the Association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo is against the constitution and that it should not be done. However, the creation of the Association is a central issue in the efforts of the United States and the EU to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia? Why do you think they are wrong?

Jason Steinbaum: Our report describes the process that the Constitution of Kosovo presents, and the Constitution of Kosovo presents a process based on which only municipalities have the authority to create associations. So, if they want one, according to the analysis we made of the Constitution of Kosovo, then let them create it. They can create the association at any moment they want, regardless of what the international community, the state authorities of Kosovo or the government of Serbia say, or regardless of the dialogue. They have the authority to do such a thing now, according to the constitution of Kosovo.

An important point of our report is that the municipalities have the powers to create the association. But in order for municipalities to do this, they must have elected officials, and this means that the local Serbian community must participate with candidates in the elections. They have boycotted elections, largely instigated by Belgrade in recent years. But I hope that in the future they will decide to run in the elections for these local government positions. And if they want to establish the association then through these elected by democratic elections, then they will have the powers and officials to do so. It would be a double win for the community, for Kosovo, for the international community, because they would win their association, but also their elected officials, who we all want to see run for office and take office. in their posts.

VOA: However, what you refer to as the "constitutional path" has been bypassed by the European Union and the United States. Why do you think this happened?

Jason Steinbaum: I think they're all people of good will. I think they want to help a community establish an association, which they said they love, and that's not a bad thing. These people want good for Kosovo and the people who live in these cities in the northern part. But I think it's probably more appropriate for the United States to stick to the rule of law, to follow the Constitution, which, let's be honest, they helped draft. We participated in the drafting of that constitution. So, maybe it's time to go back and review it and ask ourselves, 'what went well in this process, what didn't go right and how can we help this community to find solutions as defined by the Constitution? '.

Voice of America: Do you think that maybe the process has been politicized?

Jason Steinbaum: The constitution foresees a process based on which the municipalities make the decision to establish associations, or to join them, as has already happened with the creation of the regular association of municipalities, which the municipalities themselves have established. But, by making requests to the state authorities in Kosovo, in a way this makes it part of the political process. In fact, more than ten years have passed and the governments of Kosovo, led by four political parties, have not done so. Frankly, maybe it's time to take a step back and look at what the law says and maybe there's a way to go about taking the pressure off, de-politicizing it and softening the emphasis.

Voice of America: Several governments in Kosovo, including the current government, have agreed to create the association. Do you blame the government for backing out of an issue it agreed to in advance?

Jason Steinbaum: It's not their prerogative in the first place, based on the Constitution. Kosovo confirmed that it would be done with the agreement of 2013. In that agreement, which was ratified by the assembly, the government said that there will be an association of municipalities with a Serbian majority. They did not establish it. (If they did that) they would violate the Constitution, but they were expressing the desire and that's fine. That agreement also said that it would be established and that its charter would be written in the same way as the usual association of municipalities, which the municipalities themselves create. I don't think the government actually has the powers to do that. I understand the argument and the criticism, but I think there is a better way to do this, to go back and look at the Constitution.

Voice of America: However, this issue of association has become one of the main disputes between Kosovo and the United States, although not the only one. This relationship, according to many observers, is at its lowest point. Do you share this rating? What is your view?

Jason Steinbaum: I think that the interests of the United States and Kosovo coincide in the long term. Our peoples are close and the values ??of our two countries are almost the same. There are disagreements between governments and this is not an issue we deal with in our report. I know there are some disagreements, which have escalated, but they are not the subject of our report. We see a way out, a way, a constitutional process to solve one of the most difficult issues on which the parties have disagreements.

Voice of America: And what do you think is the way out, not only regarding the Association, but also the dialogue process in general. What is your advice to brokers engaged in this process? The US government has just appointed a new mediator. You have been engaged with the region for a long time...

Jason Steinbaum: I think we're currently at a point where the international community, the United States and the European Union can wait a little bit. There are elections in the United States, there will be elections in Kosovo. Some key officials are being replaced, including our envoy, as well as the EU ambassador in Kosovo, and I think Mr. Lajçak himself. There will be changes of individuals. Sometimes new people can bring new ideas and approaches and maybe this is a way to take a break. And then with the arrival of new governments and new people, we can look at this issue from a new perspective and try to see what is happening from a constitutional point of view.

Voice of America: For more than a decade, there has been a continuous dialogue process to reach some kind of negotiated agreement between Kosovo and Serbia. Do you think there is really a desire to reach a negotiated settlement?

Jason Steinbaum: I'm not so sure. I think both sides are at a pretty big impasse. I do not see the interest of the government of Serbia, I am not sure that they see it as in their interest to reach an agreement. They say they oppose a sovereign Kosovo and reaching an agreement does not seem to be in their interest. From Kosovo's point of view, they want an agreement now and recognition and that doesn't seem likely to happen in the near future. Dialogue is always a good thing. Finding solutions to functional problems between countries is a good thing, so I hope it continues. I hope that it will not focus too much on areas that are entirely within the sovereign territory of Kosovo and that are part of its sovereign decision-making authority.

Voice of America: How realistic is it to expect the participation of Serbs in the elections considering the current situation, be it the current tensions, or the incidents of the past year, including the armed attack in Banjska? For Belgrade to encourage them to participate?

Jason Steinbaum: I don't know the answer to that question. I think it could happen with a greater push from the international community, if they say your future is in your hands instead of putting it in the hands of the dialogue, or in particular the government in Belgrade, because they don't govern there, or to govern in Pristina.

The Ahtisaari process envisioned local control and powers for the municipalities, and I think that the way this process developed and how it turned into a constitutional approach, maybe we find a new way to solve this, or find a new path to moving forward that will soften the emphasis that has been placed on (the Association), depoliticize it and remove the tensions that surround it./ VOA