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20 11 2008 This week, Life in Kosovo debated the six-point plan of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon.
The panel discussed Kosovo’s reaction to the plan, and asked whether it
means Kosovo is set to remain largely passive and have its
international friends do its work. Is Kosovo still a single territorial
unit, or only a compilation of various territories administered by
different political authorities?
To discuss these and other issues were:
Bardh Hamzaj, editor of the daily Zeri,
Margarita Kadriu, editor of the daily Kosova Sot,
Arber Vllahiu, BBC journalist, Albanian section,
Muhamet Mavraj, editor of daily Epoka e Re.
Zeri
published the entire report of the UN Secretary General. Asked whether
this was the same report as the one published in June, Hamzaj noted
that his newspaper had managed to obtain the original document, but
frequent meetings had taken place since then between Kosovo leaders and
international representatives.
Margarita Kadriu said it was
the responsibility of Kosovo’s institutions to inform their own
citizens about Ban’s report and tell them what the plan was about.
While
confusion has arisen over whether Kosovo’s citizens were sufficiently
informed about what the six-points plans meant and how it might be
damaging for Kosovo, Vllahiu pointed out that the document was first
introduced on June 12, three days before the implementation of Kosovo’s
constitution.
“Public opinion reacted to the plan as it
touches the very essence of Kosovo as a state and the three pillars of
state, the judicial, police and customs system”, Mavraj, from Epoka e
Re, said.
For Kadriu, the fact that “every child in a Kosovar
home knows the plan is bad for Kosovo, without necessarily knowing what
it contains, is not good”.
Taking into consideration that the plan was introduced back in June, Kadriu said Kosovo’s response had come late in the day.
Vllahiu
said that since the letter of Ban Ki-Moon was sent to Kosovo’s
President, Fatmir Sejdiu, Kosovo’s political authorities were primarily
responsible for the issue of handling a response.
“Relevant
political actors in Kosovo should have met and discussed this issue,
because it didn’t came overnight but was there since June”, Hamzaj
said.
According to him, Brussels and the UN had acted in a
very highhanded way toward Kosovo, knowing they were making an
agreement that would not be accepted by the latter.
“Brussels
neglected Pristina throughout the whole process while Pristina
neglected itself”, said Vllahiu, adding that the capital should have
engaged in more proactive way in processes deemed vital for Kosovo’s
future.
On the other hand, all the editors agreed that
Pristina’s own negligence towards the plan had had negative
consequences as well.
“Kosovo should have ruled out the
six-point plan and given its own response to each and every point
mentioned in Ban’s plan,” Kadriu said.
Discussing the
four-point plan proposed by Pristina after it first rejected the
six-point plan of Ban Ki-Moon, Mavraj said he had appreciated the
initiative.
“Kosovo said its strongest ‘NO’ in its history”, said Mavraj.
A
report was then shown of the protests in which thousands of Kosovars
gathered in Pristina to protest against the six-point plan.
“The
protest was organised by new NGOs not well known to the public… there
should have been a more powerful appeal for the protest”, said Mavraj,
adding that Kosovo’s public television consistently blocked coverage of
the protesters and their demands.
Vllahiu said that
considering the obscurity of the organisers of the protest, the number
of protesters who turned out was very large.
“The real bad
effects of this agreement”, referring to the plan, “are not still felt
in Kosovo, but will spill over later on,” Hamzaj said.
According
to him, the protesters in Pristina had called for a referendum on the
plan, while parliament never even touched on this issue.
“Kosovo’s
institutions should make their stance clear when it comes to the North,
added Hamzaj, describing the northern divided town of Mitrovica as a
potential Pandora’s Box.
Asked whether EULEX’s neutral status
would affect Kosovo’s sovereignty over the whole of its territory,
Vllahiu noted that EULEX would not be able to deploy in the Serb-run
North without UN approval.
Right after the segment “Kosovo’s Son-in-Law”, stay tuned for the municipality debate “Life in Novobordo”.
Life
in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday,
starting at 20:20.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
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