Washington: Kosovo Constitution Guarantees Serbs a Place

The Embassy of the United States in Pristina has stated that Kosovo’s constitution guarantees the representation of Serbs in the territory’s institutions, responding to a move by Acting President Albulena Haxhiu, who signed the dismissal of seven Serb prosecutors. The message arrived from Pristina in recent days and introduced a new actor into a dispute that had until now unfolded almost entirely within Pristina’s judicial bodies.

Alongside its reference to constitutional matters, the U.S. Embassy asked the government to ensure equal opportunities and the full participation of the Serb community in political and civic life. In doing so, Washington made clear that it does not view the dismissal of the prosecutors as a routine personnel question, but as a test of how Pristina treats the rights of Serbs enshrined in its highest legal act.

Why were the seven prosecutors targeted?

The roots of the dispute reach back to 2022. The seven prosecutors submitted their resignations during a mass departure of Serb judges and prosecutors from Kosovo’s judiciary, a step that was then part of a broader withdrawal of Serbs from institutions in the north. It was part of a wave in which more than a hundred Serb officials left the judiciary at once.

The prosecutors later sought to withdraw their resignations and return to their posts. The Prosecutorial Council refused to allow it. Instead of reinstatement, the council submitted a request for their formal dismissal, which the acting president turned into a final decision with her signature. For the Serb community in the north, this means that the positions the constitution reserved for Serb prosecutors now stand empty, with no clear deadline or mechanism for them to be filled by members of that community.

Pristina defends the process on procedural grounds, arguing that the council acted within its powers. Critics, however, warn that procedure is being used to bypass the substance, namely the guaranteed representation of a community within the judiciary.

What does Washington’s message change?

The involvement of the United States gives the dispute a weight that an internal judicial quarrel would not carry on its own. When the U.S. Embassy reminds Pristina of the obligations set out in its own constitution, the matter ceases to be technical and becomes a question of institutional credibility before a key international partner.

Brussels did not stay on the sidelines either. The European Union expressed concern over both the decision and the conduct of the Prosecutorial Council, placing two central Western actors on the same line. Moments in which Washington and Brussels simultaneously point at a specific move by Pristina’s authorities are rare, and that is precisely what lends this case a diplomatic dimension broader than the judiciary.

For Belgrade, the message from Pristina confirms what the Serbian side has argued for years, that the rights of the Serb community in Kosovo are being eroded through seemingly procedural steps. For Pristina, it raises the uncomfortable question of how to reconcile the dismissal of the prosecutors with the letter of its own constitution, which Washington is now invoking.

Will the pressure of two Western partners be enough to fill the Serb seats in Kosovo’s judiciary, or will they remain empty as a lasting reminder of how deep the division runs?