Serbia to present proposal for Kosovo decentralisation

BELGRADE, Serbia

Come September, the government plans to submit to the EU and the international community a new plan for decentralising Kosovo. Oliver Ivanovic, a senior official in the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, said on Tuesday (July 28th) that Serbia still rejects former envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s independence plan as not viable, and said Kosovo should be decentralised, with more rights given to Serb enclaves. He called for “the forming of new municipalities, perhaps changes in jurisdiction, but all that has to be within the status neutral package because the Serbian government and Serbs will not back anything with the prefix ‘independent’ or any kind of Republic of Kosovo”.

Separately Tuesday, members of the Association of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo criticised the Serbian government, saying its policy towards Serbs in Kosovo amounts to “betrayal”. During a debate in northern Mitrovica, members of the association complained “Kosovo Serbs are being sacrificed for the visa liberalisation process and for better [living] conditions in Serbia.”