Minority balance in Kosovo institutions satisfactory - official

Pristina, 23 May: The Kosovo government's coordinator for implementation of standards said today that representation of minority communities in the province's institutions was satisfactory.

"The participation of minority representatives in the Kosovo institutions is satisfactory in relation to the ratio of the population," said Avi Arifi.

"At least 6 per cent of the staff in the three central Kosovo institutions are members of the Serbian community, there is one Serb and two Bosniaks working in the office of the Kosovo president, which is 6 per cent of the employees in the office, while 10.2 per cent of government employees are from minority communities, 6.8 per cent of them Serbs," he added.

"This is satisfactory in relation to the ratio of minority community members in the society but does not satisfy the plans of the former UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] chief, Michael Steiner, who sought 16.6 per cent minority staff."

"We can come to that figure by getting rid of the parallel authorities in the Serbian enclaves," said Arifi, adding that the government had published an employment advertisement for a greater number of minority community members in the central institutions, but there had not been much interest.