The government does not change its position regarding the elections in the north, except with a petition

On the eve of the visit of the Western delegation for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, the Kosovar executive has said that they have not changed their position on the path to follow towards new elections in the northern municipalities. Meanwhile, the request of the Government, that Serbia be held responsible for the terrorist attack in Banjska, has been repeated by the Minister of Local Government, Krasniqi. People familiar with the developments say that, if evidence is found, this situation should not go unpunished for Serbia

The Government of Kosovo has not changed its position regarding the path to follow towards new elections in the northern municipalities.

On the eve of the visit of the mediator for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue and representatives from the five QUINT countries, government officials have said that the Serbs should remove the presidents only through a petition, for which purpose an administrative instruction has also been approved. But the EU and the US have demanded quick decision-making for new elections, in order to avoid tensions.

"As a government, we are committed to fulfilling all the obligations that are on our table and that we must fulfill in order to set a good example of care for each citizen and process. As a government, we initiated the drafting of the administrative instruction. It is in force and any citizen or group of citizens who wants to use this legal opportunity to remove the mayor from office, wherever they are, can use it. So far, there is no information about the initiation of a petition for the removal of the presidents. The mayors in the north remain in office, all-powerful in the implementation of their constitutional and legal mandate", said the Minister of Local Government, Elbert Krasniqi, in the KTV show "60 Minutes". "We bear in mind that the last elections were with a small participation of citizens, for well-known reasons, that Serbia blackmailed and intimidated Serbian citizens, but the presidents are the result of the democratic and constitutional process. Their removal must be done through democratic, constitutional and legal means, and the petition is the best way to preserve democracy and guarantee legal security for the presidents".

The way through the instruction and the request of the Serbian List for the resignation of the presidents

According to the instruction that Krasniqi spoke about, any citizen or group of citizens with the right to vote in the respective municipality can initiate the request for the removal of the mayor of the municipality. But the request must be supported by at least twenty percent (20%) of the registered voters, in order to organize the vote for the removal of the mayor of the municipality.

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"Citizens interested in initiating the procedure to remove the mayor from office should establish an initiative group. The initiator group consists of three or more citizens with the right to vote in the respective municipality", it is stated in article 5 of the instruction.

Before the initiator group starts collecting signatures in support of the request, it must notify the chairman of the municipal assembly and may notify the CEC. The verification of signatures must be done by the Central Election Commission (CEC) in accordance with the legislation, where it then notifies the chairman of the Municipal Assembly and the Ministry with the final assessment.

According to the instruction, if the majority of female voters of the respective municipality from the final list of voters, 50+1 percent, vote for the removal of the mayor, it is considered that the mayor of the municipality has left office.

The Serbian List recently withdrew from the previous conditions for participating in the municipal elections in the north - which were the removal of special units from the north and the establishment of the Association. In coordination with official Belgrade, this entity has requested the resignation of the mayors to pave the way for the elections.

Lista Serbe boycotted the April 23 elections, where Albanian mayors were elected for the first time in the four northern municipalities. Their placement in municipal facilities was followed by protests which escalated into clashes between violent protesters and the Kosovo police. The epicenter of the tensions was Zveçani, where dozens of KFOR members were injured as a result of the violence. Journalists have also been the target of violent attackers.

New plan for talks

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European and American representatives are expected to ask for actions to improve the situation in the north and a new plan for talks between Kosovo and Serbia at the weekend. Advisors to the leaders of France, Germany and Italy, as well as emissaries from the EU and the USA, namely, Emmanuel Bonne, Jens Ploetner, Francesco Talo, Miroslav Lajcak and Gabriel Escobar, will visit Kosovo and Serbia on Saturday. According to the announcement from Brussels, the five aims at concrete progress in the implementation of the agreement and the extension of the situation. Germany's emissary for the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin, warned that Serbia will be asked to hold responsible the perpetrators of the September 24 attack, while the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement will be a requirement for both sides. After Germany, Great Britain and the USA, France has also recently appointed a special emissary for the Western Balkans. According to the announcement of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, the appointment of Rene Troccazin is in accordance with the increased involvement of France in the region against the background of the rapprochement of the Western Balkans with the EU, "which they support".

The visit of the western delegation comes after the terrorist attack in Banjska of Zveçan, for which Kosovo has made Serbia responsible.

The request of the Government that Serbia be punished for the act in the north has been repeated by the Minister of Local Government, Krasniqi.

"These are facts, from September 24 onwards, nothing is the same. We must bear in mind that in the situation we are in, there is an address that is the main culprit for this whole situation, from November 5, 2022 when the then mayors resigned and the police and other institutions, all had a dedicated plan to diminished the authority of the Republic of Kosovo in every corner of it", he said.

Kaplan: Unstable situation, reach a negotiated solution

People familiar with the developments say that, if evidence is found, this situation should not go unpunished for Serbia.

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"If evidence is found of Serbia's involvement in the attack, even indirectly, I would expect the Western countries to adopt punitive measures against Serbia. The Banjska case already makes it clear how unstable the current situation in Kosovo is and how important it is to reach a negotiated solution between Belgrade and Pristina," said Richard Caplan, professor of International Relations at Oxford. "I don't know what Kosovo's international allies know or think about Serbia's role in the attack in Banjska. The US ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, has said that the attack was "coordinated and sophisticated" and aimed at "destabilizing security in the region". However, the US has not yet confirmed Belgrade's direct involvement."

Despite Serbia's denunciation, the EU has repeated several times that they are waiting for the end of the investigations to consider imposing sanctions on Serbia. Meanwhile, they have justified the implementation of the measures for Kosovo with the fact that not all the necessary steps have been taken to improve the situation in the north.