Municipal assemblies in North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, and Leposavic on Friday once again voted in favor of withdrawing from the Association of Kosovo Municipalities (AKM), following repeated regular sessions held at different times during the day, KoSSev has confirmed.
The decision was placed on the agenda of all three assemblies under the item “Consideration and Adoption of the Decision on Withdrawal from the Association of Kosovo Municipalities.” The vote represents a repeat of an earlier decision already adopted during the first sessions of the newly formed municipal assemblies.
The issue returned to the agenda after Kosovo’s Ministry of Local Government Administration (MLGA) challenged the original decisions, citing procedural shortcomings and stating that the withdrawal process had not been conducted in accordance with the law.
Despite these objections, councilors in all three municipalities once again approved the withdrawal during today’s sessions.
Of Kosovo’s 38 municipalities, 34 are currently members of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities. Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti has repeatedly cited the existence of this association as one of his arguments against forming the long-promised Association of Serb-majority Municipalities (ASM), insisting that “Kosovo already has an association of municipalities, and there is no need to form another one.”
After Serbs withdrew from Kosovo institutions, the newly appointed leadership in all four northern municipalities initially took steps to join the Association of Kosovo Municipalities. However, one of the first demands of the new municipal leaderships—raised at the first regular sessions of the new assemblies—was withdrawal from the AKM. The initiative was submitted by the mayors of the respective municipalities: Milan Radojević (North Mitrovica), Dragiša Milović (Zvecan), Zoran Todić (Leposavic), and Miloš Perović (Zubin Potok).
North Mitrovica
The fact that the withdrawal requests were submitted by mayors was cited as the key reason why the original decisions were rejected. This was confirmed during today’s session by the President of the North Mitrovica Municipal Assembly, Nemanja Biševac.
According to Biševac, the MLGA stated in its response that the procedure was invalid because the agenda item had been proposed by the mayor.
“The procedure was not conducted properly because the mayor proposed this agenda item at the assembly session,” Biševac said, adding that the assembly had followed the same procedure used by previous municipal authorities.
North Mitrovica joined the Association of Kosovo Municipalities on June 30, 2023, following an extraordinary proposal by former mayor Erden Atić, who had earlier personally submitted the request for membership to the Association.
In today’s vote, the decision to withdraw was adopted with 12 votes in favor and two abstentions.
Zubin Potok
A similar situation unfolded in Zubin Potok. Milija Biševac from the Serbian People’s Movement told KoSSev that councilors voted again after the ministry requested that the decision be aligned with legal requirements.
“I voted in favor today as well, although I believed the majority had enough experience to carry this out properly, without having the decision returned. When I asked why it was repeated, they said they had to comply with the ministry,” Biševac commented.
The decision in Zubin Potok was adopted with 13 votes in favor and two abstentions.
Leposavic
In Leposavic, councilors also once again voted to withdraw from the Association, confirmed Ivan Vučković, a councilor from the civic initiative “Koreni.”
“We voted today to leave the Association. The problem was administrative in nature, so the ministry in Pristina returned the decision and did not approve it,” Vučković said.
He explained that the request should have been submitted by a group of councilors rather than the mayor and that it should have been reviewed in a timely manner by the finance committee.
In Leposavic, the decision was adopted unanimously, with 15 votes in favor.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
