UNMIK/PR/1651
PRISTINA – Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo (SRSG) Joachim Rücker today said that Kosovo Serbs and other communities will have a good future under the arrangements envisaged in UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s proposal. The SRSG was speaking to representatives of Kosovo Serb and Croat communities in an outreach meeting organised in Vërboc/Vrbovac by Head of the Municipal Community Office Zoran Krčmarević.
Mr. Rücker explained to participants the important elements of the status package that is “being delivered today to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon”. He called on Kosovo Serbs to participate in the political process in Kosovo and noted that Vërboc/Vrbovac presented a good example of cooperation between communities.
“A very extensive part of the status proposal is about making sure that the Kosovo Serbs and other communities feel secure and have a prosperous future in Kosovo,” the SRSG said.
“The municipalities are meant to add to the cohesion of post-status Kosovo and not to divide it,” Mr. Rücker said. He added that the proposed decentralisation plan will create new municipalities with clear lines of responsibilities between local and central institutions.
“It is a best practice, for citizens everywhere not only in Kosovo, to have a very high degree of local self-governance,” he said, “Only those things that are done well at the central level should be done at that level. Everything else should be done at the municipal level. That would include major elements of schooling, healthcare, public services and utilities, community involvement in policing, as well as a high degree of local self-governance on cultural activties, markets and urban or rural planning.”
“Articulate your interests,” Mr. Rücker advised the Kosovo Serbs, urging them also to participate in the privatisation process through the Kosovo Trust Agency.
