Decentralisation proves to be the biggest challenge for Kosovo

13/12/2006

The decentralisation of Kosovo is the biggest stumbling block the status process has had to face. Despite almost ten months of discussions on the issue, no solution is in sight.

By Blerta Foniqi-Kabashi and Igor Jovanovic for Southeast European Times – 13/12/06

"Functionality and sustainability are really the two criteria [for decentralisation]," said UN deputy envoy Albert Rohan. [File]

From the start of the status talks, decentralisation has been the biggest hurdle the process has faced. By the end of the negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, no solution was reached.

While the initial status negotiations focused on technical issues important for Kosovo's long-term stability -- particularly the rights and protection of Kosovo's minorities -- UN envoy for the status talks Martti Ahtisaari brought the parties together for the first direct dialogue in February to discuss decentralisation of the local government. Decentralisation is viewed by some as an important measure to protect the Kosovo Serb communities.

Although the international community views decentralisation as essential to ethnic reconciliation and the building of a civil society in Kosovo, the issue remains politically charged. The riots that erupted in March 2004 left Kosovo Serbs convinced that their future depends on self-rule.

The last meeting on the issue was held last month in Pristina. Contact Group representatives met with the mayors of ten Kosovo municipalities to discuss the process. The Kosovo negotiating team has made it clear from the beginning that they oppose decentralisation, fearing it will establish Serb enclaves within Kosovo, and possibly lead to some form of partition. The Contact Group, however, sees the process as necessary for the province's future.

Belgrade has proposed a plan that would put the province's central administration on the municipal level, and would strengthen local self-administration. The plan involves the creation of 16 new non-Albanian municipalities that have competency in the areas of education, health care, the media, social affairs, economy and privatisation, the judiciary --up to the level of the municipal court -- and policing. The Serbian municipalities, with assistance from Belgrade, must have "horizontal linkage" within the province, in order to perform joint competencies, as proposed by UN Special Envoy Kai Eide. They also must be based on the Serbian system of education, health and social policy.

The chief of the US mission in Kosovo, Tina Kaidanow, said that decentralisation will be an important part of the eventual agreement on Kosovo's status, and that Contact Group members will support efforts to implement it.

"For better functionality of the local administration, we should have strong mayors of municipalities," Kaidanow said last month. "The local authorities should deal with that which has more importance for the local level of the people, and the mayors of the municipalities should deal more with the issues that have to do with citizens of that locality."

According to UN deputy special envoy Albert Rohan, these are the two important criteria for establishing a new municipality. "Firstly, we cannot establish fictitious municipalities. They cannot be too small, otherwise they cannot run their affairs and they are not affordable. So there must be a minimum of people living in a municipality, which goes well in the thousands. Secondly, it must be fairly compact and people must live in an area that is contiguous - we can't have a couple of hundred, here a couple of hundred there. So functionality and sustainability are really the two criteria."

Despite explanations and rationalisation for or against decentralisation of the province, it remains a hot topic. Late last month, thousands of Kosovo Albanians protested in Pristina -- resulting in UN police firing tear gas.

According to Gerard Gallucci, the UN administrator in the divided city of Mitrovica, decentralisation "simply means strong local rule in areas in which local people want to control their own lives, whether they're Serb or Albanian".

"I don't think anyone is explaining that to anybody, unfortunately, here in Kosovo," Voice of America quoted him as saying.