Kosovo PM Sends Disputed Demarcation Deal to Parliament

Amid international pressure, PM Isa Mustafa will send a controversial agreement on border demarcation with Montenegro to the Kosovo Assembly, where the opposition has vowed to resist its ratification.

After a telephone conversation with US Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Brian Yee, PM Isa Mustafa announced that the government will send the disputed agreement on border demarcation with Montenegro to parliament on Monday.
“PM Isa Mustafa and the US Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Yee agreed that on Monday, the government will send the Kosovo Assembly the draft law for the ratification of the agreement on border demarcation between Kosovo and Montenegro,” a government said.
Opposition parties Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK and the Nisma (Initiative for Kosovo), have continuously opposed the deal with Montenegro since it was signed in August 2015, claiming it robs Kosovo of substantial amounts of pasture land on the border between the two countries.
They say they are committed to opposing the ratification of the agreement whenever come to parliament for a vote.
“I am convinced that the demarcation will fall, together with the government,” the chief of the Vetevendosje parliamentary group, Glauk Konjufca, told a press conference.
“As the AAK, it is clear from our side that we will oppose this, and we will take any democratic action not to allow the ratification of an agreement that is to the detriment of Kosovo,” Pal Lekaj from the AAK told Kosovo television station KTV.
The three opposition parties have already announced that they will call on people to protest when the demarcation agreement will be voted upon in parliament.
After the government sends the agreement to parliament, the presidency of the Assembly must set a date for voting.
The ruling coalition, comprising the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Democratic League of Kosovo, is not certain of sufficient votes to approve it because, as well as the opposition parties, which all oppose the deal, some MPs from the ruling coalition are also against the agreement.
For the agreement to be ratified, 80 out of 120 votes of MPs are required to vote in favour.
The deal was set to be put to a vote in parliament on September 1, but amid opposition protests outside the building, Mustafa withdrew it from the agenda.
The announcement by the Kosovo premier came after the opposition parties, in a move initiated by by Nisma, filed a motion of no confidence in the government, which is set to be voted on by MPs on Wednesday.
The issue may well decide the fate of the ruling coalition under Isa Mustafa.
The European Union has put ratification of the controversial border agreement with Montenegro at the top of its conditions for visa liberalisation.
Kosovo officials have faced strong international pressure to push the deal through.
Source: Balkan Insight