“The United States does not and will not support anything that resembles the Serbian Republic in Bosnia Herzegovina.”
When asked about the US position on the Association of Municipalities with a Serb majority, US Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier made the following statement.
In an interview with local media, Hovenier stated that the US has never asked Kosovo to do anything that contradicts the 2015 Constitutional Court decision.
“But I want to be very clear and I have said this many times already, and I will certainly say it again: The United States is not asking Kosovo to do something that violates its Constitution; The United States is not asking Kosovo to do something that is not in line with the Constitutional Court’s decision of 2015; The United States does not support and will not support anything that even remotely resembles the Serbian Republic,” he said.
According to Hovenier, the United States is seeking a type of Association that only better coordinates the functions of municipal governance, which are already governed by the laws of the Constitution.
“We seek an Association of municipalities with a Serb majority that better coordinates the functions that these municipal governments already have under the Kosovo Constitution, such as health care, education, and urban planning, allowing them to use and fulfill those responsibilities in a way that is significant for the Serbian ethnic community.”
Hovenier also stated that he does not expect the Association issue to be the first or last to be resolved.
One thing remains clear, according to him, that the US position on the Association has not changed and is not expected to change. According to him, the establishment of the Association is a commitment made by the Government of Kosovo through the Brussels Agreement.