News
Kosovo crisis hardens as disagreements over presidency, Serb autonomy persist
Protesters camp in downtown Pristina, opposition MPs launch tear gas in Parliament against likely designation of Hashim Thaçi as new Kosovo president, agreement on Association of Serbian Municipalities
Opposition parties are demanding fresh parliamentary elections and the suspension of the election of the President of Kosovo, which is scheduled for Friday 26th. Two candidates are running for the post, both members of the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). Out of them, PDK leader, Foreign Affairs minister and former Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaçi is best placed to be designated.
Kosovo is run by a coalition government made up by the PDK and the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). Together they have 67 out of 120 seats in the Kosovo Assembly.
Three opposition forces (Vetëvendosje, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, and Initiative for Kosovo) are bitterly against Thaçi's nomination. They argue the PDK leader -whom several press reports link to war crimes, drug trafficking and organ trafficking- is not the right person to get the country out of economic crisis or to solve Kosovo's longstanding, serious problem of corruption. The parties also blame PDK and LDK for trying to set up an undemocratic system in Kosovo.
The leaders of the three parties -Visar Ymeri, Ramush Haradinaj and Fatmir Limaj- are supporting an opposition camping in the centre of Kosovo capital Pristina. Protesters are calling for a new parliamentary election and for the withdrawal of Thaçi's candidacy.
Opposition to the Association of Serbian Municipalities
The other major reason for protests is an agreement sealed by the governments of Kosovo and Serbia in August 2015, under EU auspices, that provides for the creation of the Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo, which will be vested with partial autonomy on local affairs. The Assembly will bring together ethnic Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo.
Opposition parties believe that setting up the Association of Serbian Municipalities will be equivalent to creating a body similar to Bosnia's Republika Srpska. They argue this amounts to violating Kosovo's sovereignty.
Both government and opposition parties are Albanian majority. But PDK and LDK recall that the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities is supported by the EU and could thus be an asset for the normalization of relations with Serbia, with a view to a possible future recognition of Kosovo by Belgrade.
Showing their anger with the Pristina-Belgrade agreement, opposition MPs have launched tear gas and eggs on several occasions in parliamentary sessions. Eggs were launched against PM Isa Mustafa in September. Earlier this week a Vetëvendosje MP again launched tear gas, after similar episodes occured in November and December. Several MPs have been arrested for such incidents.