Saturday, July 09, 2005

Why has Jessen-Petersen blocked the start of pilot-projects?

Citing ‘reliable sources’, Zëri reports on the front page that the SRSG has not been willing to sign the administrative order for the start of pilot projects on decentralisation. Mentioning some of the reasons of such a position, the paper says that first of all the UNMIK chief hasn’t managed to include Kosovo Serb politicians in this process. Belgrade has constantly refused Jessen-Petersen’s offer for Serbian politicians to participate in the working groups as advisors or experts. The Serbian Government on several occasions has called on Kosovo Serb politicians to boycott the process.

Another problem, according to the paper, is that the residents of the areas foreseen as pilot projects must agree with the proposal of the Kosovo Government to be part of the project. While the residents of Partes (in Gjilan municipality) have embraced the offer, the residents of Gracanica have not done so.

Zëri says that the SRSG seems to have taken into consideration the problems in the political relations between the government and the opposition. According to the paper, there is uncertainty even within the government about the initial number of pilot projects. In fact, says the newspaper, PM Kosumi has announced that two pilot projects would be implemented in the beginning (Gracanica and Hani i Elezit), whereas the Local Government Ministry has sent proposals for five pilot projects to the SRSG

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