Failure to form ZSO "negative message to Serbs, and EU"

Failure to form ZSO "negative message to Serbs, and EU"

Although all reports by the UN secretary general have recognized the need of setting up the ZSO as soon as possible, it has not yet been done, the minister said, pointing out that instead, the so-called Constitutional Court of Kosovo was reviewing and making de facto changes to the Brussels agreement, Dacic said.

This is a negative message to the Serb community, but also to the EU as mediator and the UN, said Dacic said at a UN Security Council meeting on Kosovo during which UN secretary-general's' regular report on Kosovo was presented.

Dacic said that radicalization of the political scene and deterioration of the security situation represented a threat for the population of Kosovo, and that the most vulnerable were returnees in ethnically mixed communities.

Addressing the the same UNSC session, head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Zahir Tanin said that polarization of the Kosovo political landscape had reached levels where progress was being impeded, despite considerable efforts by the government to pursue an ambitious reform agenda.

"The extremes of political antagonism have clearly transgressed basic democratic norms," he said citing opposition's repeated use of violence in the Kosovo Assembly, and noted that despite this, "many essential commitments made by Kosovo's political leadership have remained firm, such as continuing to normalize relations with Belgrade through the EU-facilitated dialog, and ensuring the conditions necessary for full establishment of the special court."

He expressed the conviction that everyone had to refrain from political fighting and narrow political interests and turn to fundamental issues such as the implementation of the rule of law and protection of human rights which should be priorities in Kosovo.

The UN secretary-general's full report is available in a PDF file hosted on the un.org website