#S1EP12 - Is there anything new with the Association?

Besa Luci in conversation with Adi Ćerimagić and Augustin Palokaj.In this episode, we talk about the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities in Kosovo.Arising in 2013 as part of an agreement between Kosovo and Serbia within the EU-mediated dialogue, the Association was promoted as a way to convince Kosovo Serbs to fully enter the Kosovar system, ensure their cultural autonomy and end the Serbian state's parallel structures within Kosovo. Still unimplemented after a decade, it’s long been causing controversy.Following the initial 2013 agreement and a follow-up in 2015, Kosovo erupted in political turmoil. For weeks, in both years, the Assembly was brought to a halt by the then-opposition party Vetëvendosje, who argued that the Association was a way for Serbia to undermine Kosovo's sovereignty. The 2015 protests initiated a review by the Constitutional Court, which paradoxically said that aspects of the guiding principles of the Association were not in accordance with the Constitution, but that it was nevertheless a legal obligation for Kosovo.This past March, a much-awaited meeting took place in Ohrid, where Kosovo and Serbia agreed to, but did not sign, the “European Plan” for normalizing relations. Observers paid the most attention to a particular article of the 11-point plan, which would require Kosovo “to ensure an appropriate level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo,” and to do so in accordance with previously reached agreements.Critics of the Association see it as an additional level of governance, “a state within a state,” which will lead to the “bosnification” of Kosovo, referring to the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also an imposed creation of the international community. But details are still scarce, and no one seems to actually know what the Association will look like.Two guests discuss the competing narratives around the Association as well as what this process tells us about the region’s relationship with the EU and international community at large.Augustin Palokaj is the Brussels correspondent for KOHA group and has been following the dialogue for over a decade. Adi Ćerimagić is a senior analyst at the European Stability Initiative, a European think tank developing policy ideas on South East Europe, asylum policy, human rights and democracy.Other Talking Points is produced by Besa Luci, Aulonë Kadriu and Gentiana Paçarizi. Music and sound mix by PUG musik.This podcast is part of the Human Rightivism project, which is funded by the Embassy of Sweden in Prishtina, implemented by the Community Development Fund through its Human Rightivism Program. The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Embassy of Sweden in Prishtina.