Community of Serb municipalities, Kosovo

Community of Serb Municipalities

Zajednica srpskih opština
Location of the Community of Serb Municipalities within Kosovo.
Formation	TBD
Headquarters	North Mitrovica
Location	Kosovo
Membership	North Mitrovica Zubin Potok Leposavić Zvečan Štrpce Klokot Gračanica Novo Brdo Ranilug Parteš Gora (planned)
Official language	Serbian and Albanian
President	TBD
Vice-president	TBD

The Community of Serb Municipalities (Serbian: Заједница српских општина/Zajednica srpskih opština, ZSO) or Association of Serb Municipalities (Albanian: Asociacioni i komunave serbe) is a planned self-governing association of municipalities with majority Serb population in Kosovo, expected to be created in 2015 but indefinitely postponed over conflicts about extent of powers. The proposal of the association came as a result of the 2013 Brussels Agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.

In accordance with the competences given by the European Charter of Local Self Government and Kosovo law, the participating municipalities will be entitled to cooperate in exercising their powers collectively through the association. The association will have full overview of the areas of economic development, education, health, urban and rural planning.

There has been a Community called Association of Serb Municipalities and Settlements of Kosovo and Metohija (Zajednica srpskih opština i naselja Kosova i Metohije), founded in February 2003 in Mitrovica, as an association of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo. It was considered illegitimate by the Government of Kosovo, as it exercised legislative and executive authority over its territory, mostly in North Kosovo, through its Assembly.

In 2005, part of the Serbia-Kosovo negotiation was the Serbian side's call for the establishment of Serb municipalities and constitutional and legal protection of Serbs. UN Special Representative (UNOSEK) Jessen-Petersen and Kosovo speaker Daci reiterated the ruling out of partition.

Its formation is predicted by the Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina. This agreement represents an important step in process of accession of Serbia to the European Union. By this agreement, it was also agreed that Serbia will not block accession of Kosovo to the European Union and vice versa. This agreement was also praised by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who said that it guarantees broad powers to municipalities with Serb majority in Kosovo. The Community will include these municipalities: North Kosovska Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Leposavić, Zvečan, Štrpce, Klokot-Vrbovac, Gračanica, Novo Brdo, Ranilug and Parteš. In one interview for Radio Television of Kosovo, Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi said that its establishment is in essence acceptable by the Constitution of Kosovo and Ahtisaari Plan, while the AAK party leader Ramush Haradinaj supported this by saying that the Constitution of Kosovo allows the association of municipalities, but without holding legislative, judicial or executive power. In November 2014, Ljubomir Marić, one of the co-ordinators with the duty of establishing the Community of Serb Municipalities stated that it would be based on the South Tyrol model in Italy and that he expected to establish two more Serb municipalities in Gora and Prilužje. The Community will have "full overview power in the areas of economic development, education, health, urban and rural planning" in accordance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government and Kosovo law.