South Tyrol model for community of Serb municipalities

BELGRADE - In the preparation of the draft statute of the community of Serb municipalities (ZSO) in Kosovo-Metohija, we used elements of various models of European regions, Ljubomir Maric, coordinator of the team in charge of setting up the ZSO, has said.

We were attracted to the South Tyrol model the most and one can say it is closest to what the community of Serb municipalities will look like, Maric told Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti.

The ZSO structure will comprise four communities north and six south of the Ibar River, and the plan is to set up two more municipalities - Gora and Priluzje, he said.

Maric said that each of the municipalities will decide independently on their accession to the community and will have their delegates. "The ZSO will put an end to dividing Serbs into those living north and those living south of the Ibar."

He pointed out that the ZSO as a whole would be recognized by both Belgrade and Pristina and also by the international community.

"We stand ready to begin discussions on the draft statute with the Albanian side, but we still do not have adequate representatives to speak to as the provincial government has not yet been set up," Maric said.

Maric said that the authorities in Pristina had not yet adapted legal frameworks for the implementation of the part of the Brussels agreement which envisages the creation of the ZSO, stressing that it would be discussed in Brussels as part of negotiations on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.