Kosovo Assembly Seats Serb List Deputies on Committees
The blockade of Serb deputies' election to committees lasted from mid-October. It ended on the fourth attempt, when Self-Determination voted for the first time.
Serb List deputies have been elected to the committees of the Kosovo Assembly, ending a blockade that had lasted since mid-October. The proposal passed with 63 votes in favor, none against and one abstention, but only on the fourth attempt, after the governing Self-Determination movement took part in the vote for the first time. Judging by the time the report was published, the vote most likely took place on the evening of Thursday, November 5, although one outlet describes it as an event of Friday, November 6.
Why did the proposal pass only now?
What changed from earlier sessions was not the content but the way of voting. Previously, the Serb List deputies were put to a vote separately. This time their candidates were bundled with those of the other parliamentary groups into a single proposal. The Assembly adopted the proposal to replace and appoint members of its parliamentary committees, which, as Pristina’s Koha confirmed and KoSSev reported, ended the weeks-long exclusion of Serb representatives from committee work.
Self-Determination deputies did not take part in the vote at the previous three sessions where the issue came up. The available sources contain no explanation of why they changed their behavior this time.
Three failed attempts and a withdrawn item
The first failure was recorded on October 15. At the session on October 22, the Assembly tried three times to vote on the Serb deputies, and each time only 14 deputies took part: 11 voted in favor, one against, and two abstained. The same day, the formation of a commission to select members of the Board of Radio-Television of Kosovo was backed by 80 deputies, and the Kosovo Democratic Institute later warned that the failed vote had been justified by a lack of quorum.
At one of the following sessions the item was withdrawn from the agenda, with the explanation that changes to the makeup of the parliamentary committees were coming. After that, the Serb List proposals were bundled with those of the other parliamentary groups.
What did the Kosovo Democratic Institute warn about?
The Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) warned in late October that leaving Serb List deputies off the committees jeopardizes the constitutionally guaranteed right of the Serb community to effective parliamentary representation. By then the committees had been working without them for roughly a month.
The institute also stated that deputies of Self-Determination, as well as of other Albanian parliamentary parties, had not voted on the Serb candidates, even though they were present when other agenda items were decided. The failed vote was justified by a lack of quorum. KDI assessed that such a situation limits the ability of Serb deputies to take part in reviewing legislation, overseeing institutions and other parliamentary procedures. It stressed in particular that the representation of non-majority communities is not merely a matter of political will but a constitutional right that must be exercised through participation in parliamentary bodies.
What does the Serb List gain by entering the committees?
The Serb List holds nine of the ten seats reserved for the Serb community in the Kosovo Assembly, and until this vote it had no representative on any parliamentary committee. The parliamentary group said that its deputies can now take part in drafting laws and submit amendments, and that work in committees is a basic right of all parliamentary groups, one that had been unjustifiably denied to them in the previous period.
Serb List deputy Igor Simic stated in a press release that, for the first time, various maneuvers had been used to try to challenge the right of Serb representatives to work in parliamentary committees. Serb deputies have been assigned to all committees, in the same way as the other parliamentary groups.
