"UNESCO membership ratification would need Serb votes"

"UNESCO membership ratification would need Serb votes"

"Article 81 of the Kosovo Constitution says that the laws on protection of cultural heritage, education and languages are of vital importance and that the adoption of such documents requires a majority of votes of ethnic minority MPs," Trajkovic said.

She added that "the Constitution of Kosovo clearly stipulates that, when it comes to cultural heritage, education and language, Kosovo authorities and ethnic Albanian MPs cannot adopt laws without participation and votes of Kosovo Serbs."

Trajkovic also quoted "Annex 5 of Ahtisaari's plan - which envisages that Kosovo authorities must consult the Serbian Orthodox Church regarding any activities that would promote Serb Orthodox heritage for any tourism, scientific, educational or other public purposes."

"This means that the authorities in Pristina cannot independently and without consultation with the Serbian Orthodox Church take any action relating to the Serb religious and historical heritage, such as membership in UNESCO. It is clear that with UNESCO membership Kosovo intends to gain affirmation of its self-declared statehood, "said Trajkovic.

However, she said, Pristina cannot achieve that membership in a legal manner even according to its own constitution without the votes of Serb deputies in the Kosovo assembly, nor could it lawfully undertake any activity related to the Serb heritage in UNESCO without consulting with the Serbian Orthodox Church.

"This stance of the Pristina authorities towards their own laws will be a much more relevant test of statehood than membership in any international organization," said Trajkovic.

When asked about "the consequences of the refusal" of Serb MPs to ratify a possible decision of UNESCO to allow Kosovo to join, she said that the Serb electorate did not elect its representatives in the assembly to work on the promotion of Kosovo in international organizations.

'The question of all questions is whether they would ever be elected again if they supported something like this," Trajkovic said, adding that it is "widely known there are no Serbs in Kosovo's diplomatic missions abroad because Kosovo Albanians don't trust them to promote Kosovo's independence."