EU Says Kosovo Ruling on Serbian Judges Breaks the Law

The European Union said on Friday, August 28, that a decision by the Judicial Council of Kosovo’s interim Pristina institutions on Serbian judges “appears incompatible” with Kosovo law, due process and the general requirements of the rule of law. A spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a written statement, carried by Radio Television of Serbia, that Brussels “consistently calls on” Pristina to allow the reintegration of Serbian judicial staff.

“The European Union consistently calls on Pristina to enable the reintegration of Serb judicial staff in line with Kosovo law,” the statement said.

The trigger was a decision the Judicial Council made a day earlier, on August 27. The Council accepted the resignations of Serbian judges, resignations those same judges had previously withdrawn, effectively blocking their formal return to the judiciary. Nine Council members voted to reject the judges’ request, one member voted against the rejection, and chairman Rustem Taci abstained. The part of the proposal concerning the judges now goes to acting Council president Aljbuljena Hadziju, who, according to the KoSSev news portal, announced immediately after the decision that she would move to have them dismissed once she receives the proposal.

It took three attempts to reach the decision. The first two sessions where the matter was due to appear on the agenda, on July 24 and August 7, fell through for lack of quorum. The issue was reopened after Hadziju sent a letter to chairman Taci on June 19, asking the Council to resolve the status of the resignations that Serb judges and support staff had submitted back in 2022. KoSSev reports that more than 20 Serbian judges and court staff have since withdrawn their resignations, a figure Radio Television of Serbia’s report does not mention.

In the same statement, the European Union welcomed the fact that the judges had withdrawn their resignations at all, while expressing regret that the Judicial Council refused to let them return to work.

“These decisions appear incompatible with Kosovo law, due process and the general requirements of the rule of law,” the EEAS spokesperson said.

“Under its Constitution, Kosovo is a multi-ethnic society governed by the rule of law, and its judicial system must reflect Kosovo’s ethnic diversity,” the same statement, published on the EEAS website, said.

The decision on the judges follows a pattern Brussels had already condemned once before, in the case of prosecutors. The Prosecutorial Council rejected the withdrawal of Serbian prosecutors’ resignations on July 20, and the very next day, July 21, Hadziju signed decrees dismissing seven Serbian prosecutors. The European Union called that decision incompatible with the law, due process and the requirements of the rule of law as well, and urged the institutions to refrain from steps that could prevent the reintegration of Serbian judicial staff.

Serbian judges, prosecutors and other judicial staff left the Pristina institutions in late November 2022, during the crisis triggered by the Pristina authorities’ demand that vehicles with KM license plates be re-registered with RKS plates. Members of the Kosovo Police from the Serb community resigned at the same time, along with employees and officials of the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo. Srpske vesti reported on the Judicial Council’s August 27 decision a day earlier.

On Friday, the European Union also repeated its call to all actors in Kosovo to create conditions for a multi-ethnic judiciary, with full respect for the law, due process and the commitments undertaken in the dialogue Brussels mediates between Belgrade and Pristina.