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JWG on the Legal Framework Press Briefing: 9 April 2001 Press Conference by Chairman and Members of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the Legal Framework Johan Van Lamoen, Chairman Statement by Chairman Johan Van Lamoen I am here again in front of you. Since last week, as man of the joint
working group, I can tell you that we have been able to make a lot of
progress because we even worked on Sunday and we will use the rest of this
week to finalise the document because I think it's possible because
hopefully on Friday, we can present the final text. We are at the moment
discussing the assembly, which of course is a very important body amongst
the provisional institutions of self-government and I think we can tackle
in the afternoon, the executive authority of the government and then we
will the judiciary on the agendas and some other provisions. And of
course, you will hear from my Kosovar colleagues of course the question
whether or not there should be a president of Kosovo, I would like to
leave it to them to answer that question. So this is just my introductory
statement and you can ask questions
now. Q: You said the text of the legal framework will be finished by Friday. JVL: Yes. Q: A few day ago Mr. Kostunica said he would like to cooperate with this working group. Did some Serbs participate in the writing of the legal framework and if not…. JVL: In fact since what I told you last time about the absence of the Kosovo Serb member, it is still the same situation. We only have seen the representative of the Kosovo Serb on the first day of the JWG and since then the situation has been the same. There is no other representative of the Kosovo Serb, who is participating in the discussion on the JWG so far. Q: Is it still possible for the Serbs of Kosovo to participate in the JWG or is it too late? JVL: It is never too late. A representative of the Kosovo Serb can of course join this after, if there is someone available. So far I have no information on that. Q: Do you think that by not participating the Serbs chose to leave aside the whole issue of legal framework and not accept it as such, which is in contradiction to what Mr. Kostunica said that they would try to accept the legal framework. Do you believe the UN in New York would accept the legal framework if Serbs do not participate and do you think your whole effort will be wasted, in case the UN bureaucracy stops it? JVL: I am not so sure whether we can say about the wasted time. On the contrary, I don't think so. You should not forget that during the discussions, in particular, the representative of UNMIK always take into account the interest of communities in general. So one cannot say that the interest of one group is not taken into account. Of course what we are doing there is trying to make the legal framework for Kosovo, for all people in Kosovo and I don't think that will change, the spirit and the letter of the text, although there is no representative of the Kosovo Serbs. As you know many other communities, which are also not represented, but are represented by Mr. Ferovic and in fact, I think when we conclude at the end of the week, at least from our point of view, and the international point of view, it's an extremely balanced text. I think that people should be happy with it. Q: I have a question for Mr. Reka. Mr. Reka have you agreed whether there will be a President of Kosovo, will there be a ministry of external affairs and how will be this document called-legal framework or constitution? BR: Whether there will be a president of Kosovo, we will know this afternoon. We have had lot's of discussion regarding this issue. Regarding the ministry of external affairs, we haven't yet worked on the methodology of determining the ministries. But we have defined the fields that will come under the competencies of the self-governing bodies. At the moment I can only say what is called the external relations will be in the hands of the Kosovars in cooperation with the SRSG, that means international cooperation and finalisation of the agreements. Regarding the name of the document, whether legal framework or a constitutional document, the issue still remains open and we haven't reached an agreement on it. Q: A question for Mr. Ferovic. Will the issue of the use of the language of the minorities where they live be finalized, for instance the use of Turkish language where the Turks live. AF: As Blerim said we are still discussing this issue and I think by tomorrow we will have a decision on it. Q: A question for the whole group. You had said earlier that this is going to be people's juridical framework. Because you are calling it people's, is there going to be an open debate with the people of Kosovo and also to decide the name of this document? AB: I think an open public debate is needed for approving this document. Since this document will be the highest act for the transitional period into which Kosovo is going, if we can't have a referendum on this document, and if we can't have a constitutional assembly, then we could have a professional and public debate where the Kosovar society will be able to express its concerns and that should be taken into account when the final draft/document is issued. It is true that during all this time we have made substantial progress but it is true we have some conceptual differences on some important issues, like the issue of naming the document, the power of the bodies of Kosovo and the issue of the mechanism of the final solution. We will ask to have a joint session with the Interim Administrative Council (IAC), where we will raise these concerns of ours and we will try to reach a political consensus regarding these issues that are of fundamental importance in this whole process. Of course, the Kosovar representatives in this JWG are determined that the text be called the provisional constitution and that the Kosovars in the transitional phase have a proper and full self-government, without any conflict with the international authorities that would continue to exercise its power according to Resolution 1244. So are asking for transfer of responsibilities that can be transferred according to Resolution 1244. Q: What will be the proportion of the seats of the Serb and Albanian and what power will they have? JVL: I think we must wait for the results of the elections. And maybe some set aside seats for the Kosovar Serbs. But it is very difficult to predict the outcome of the elections now. Everybody hopes that the Kosovar Serbs will participate in the elections, so that they could participate and should participate in the provisional institutions of self-government. Q: According to Resolution 1244, Kosovo is still part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. If you make something like a temporary constitution of Kosovo, that means you are violating Resolution 1244. Mr. Haekkerup said in Belgrade that it is very important to clarify that the legal framework will remain within 1244 and will not touch the issue of the final status of Kosovo. Then why are we speaking about something that is the temporary constitution of Kosovo. MK: Of course we have Resolution 1244 in view. According to this resolution responsibilities will be handed over from the international to the locals. But we do not think there will be a line in this constitution that will foresee a connection between Kosovo and FRY or Kosovo and Serbia. Kosovo has decided on its own democratic path. To walk this path we need this constitution, this provisional constitution of Kosovo and of course we are working on this as the chairman has stressed, so that we will have able and capable bodies performing their duties. Therefore whether now or in the future, we will make sure there will be no paragraph on the connection of Kosovo with the government of Belgrade or FRY. This was not the topic for discussion within this working group and I think this is the road we will take until this document is finally approved. BR: I would like to add something. Your question is whether Kosovo is a part of Yugoslavia. I have read Resolution 1244 over a hundred times, but I have never come across the formulation that Kosovo is a part of Yugoslavia. Regarding the second question why do we insist on having a referendum and if we prejudice the settlement of the final status of Kosovo. We are asking for a referendum not for this phase because according to Resolution 1244, this phase is covered by the international administration and it is understandable that there will be no referendum because 1244 is in force. But this does not mean that we will not need to have a mechanism on the future status after the internationals mandate is over leave. JVL: What is the job of the joint working group. It's exactly this, to regulate the hand over and transfer of competencies from the international administration to the local provisional institutions. That's in fact the whole exercise. Q: I have a question for Blerim Shala. As we learned most of the key
issues such as the name of the legal framework or the question whether
there would be a president of Kosovo or not or whether there would be a
ministry of foreign affairs have not been agreed upon yet. Does that mean
that there would can expect an enormous increase in efficiency and
consent BS: While the Kosovar side insists that this document be called the provisional constitution, that Kosovo has a president, that the assembly have legislative powers and other issues. In fact these are based on a democratic procedure that have been legitimized in all international documents from Rambouillet to Resolution 1244. In the final document of Rambouillet, Kosovo has provisional institutions, the assembly had legislative powers and Kosovo had a president. The document of Rambouillet, as you are aware, has been taken fully into account while drafting Resolution 1244. The adoption of these 'requests' does not prejudice the final settlement of Kosovo. There should be no fear that this way we would prejudice final settlement of Kosovo. To come back to your question, we will have a meeting tomorrow with the Interim Administrative Council and we will address these issues. We think the final decisions regarding these issues should rest with the IAC that has the legitimacy through the municipal elections. We hope that we will overcome these obstacles and that we will have a final document by Thursday evening. Q: This is for the chairman. We know that the former SRSG and KFOR commanders have said several times, that we know that 100 per cent of Kosovo Albanians are in favour of independence of Kosovo. That is one of the biggest fears of internationals concerning the future powers of the Kosovo parliament. How are you going to try to convince them that their democratic right to ask for independence is not legal. What is the mechanism that you have tried to put in place, to put it very bluntly, to prevent that from happening. JVL: You speak very bluntly and you will get a blunt answer. It's simply not a mandate of the JWG to go into details of the final settlement. It is completely outside our ambit, our mandate. Q: The Albanian members mentioned that after this interim phase they are looking for determining the final status of Kosovo. Will that mechanism be put in place, in the interim constitution or the legal framework. JVL: Maybe I will be asked to come back to Kosovo to deal with the final solution and then you will see me back in three or five years time. Q: This question is for the whole JWG. If the Serbs decide to participate in the elections but condition it by calling the document legal framework, how will you react in that situation. MK: Well we have decided to address this issue in a meeting with the IAC. We are in position only to draft the document but cannot take political decisions like the name of the document, the name of the constitution, the structure of the assembly, the president and the government. On the issue of referendum, we think that referendum should exist as a body within the competencies of the assembly of Kosovo in order to decide on the relevant issues. If the IAC decides on this, then it's OK, but I am speaking on my behalf, I will not sign on such a document and I think my colleagues will do the same. Q: This is a question for Mr. Bajrami. He mentioned that tomorrow there is a meeting the members of the JWG and IAC in which these issues will be addressed. These issues are: the name of the document, the constitutional court and several other issues and if there is no agreement reached at tomorrow's meeting, what will be your position? AB: We as the working group have to negotiate and talk only regarding a full governance by Kosovars, governance by Kosovars in this transitional phase, should have a provisional constitution, should have all the bodies it had in the past, that were determined by the Rambouillet document and of course the issues of final settlement should remain open by enabling people to express their own will, and Kosovo got an international guarantee on this at Rambouillet, where it was explicitly stated that the final status will be determined based on the will of the people. But I still think till the end of this week, the international members of the JWG will have in mind the facts that we have presented to them in the last month for the need to have a constitution and efficient governance and that for the moment we will not do anything to prejudice the final settlement of Kosovo. Of course, as a group we are very responsible and think in real terms about the realities of Kosovo. We have not disputed the international in Kosovo but we have asked that all the responsibilities that can be transferred to be transferred to the bodies of Kosovo so that they could take the responsibility to build democracy in Kosovo and to advance the political process that will accelerate the final settlement of Kosovo. Q: I did not get an answer from the chairman on whether there will be an open debate in the public. But I will once again ask the whole team now, knowing that in the last 15 years this area, things happened because of the lack of will of the people and change of the constitution without their will. So will there be an open debate or is it going to be only a decision from the top or is IAC is going to decide maybe coming …with the will of the people and then do you expect some trouble? JVL: I can safely say that there will be a public debate because that is also what the SRSG has announced. There will be in fact consultations with the people, the OSCE had a programme, there were all kinds of other kinds of means to get the people involved. As you know the communities are also involved through Mr. Ferovic. They are directly involved in the sense that they put their concerns to Mr. Ferovic, who can raise them in the working group. I had a meeting myself day before yesterday with the representatives of all the communities. I am also very much aware of their concerns. That is in fact the kind of consultation that happens during the work of the JWG and I am sure afterwards certainly other consultations will take place in one way or another because then the text will certainly also be public and before a final decision is taken when it comes to also the international community and New York also has to pronounce itself on the text. I think we are not yet there, let's say a text printed on which one can say this is the final version. After the work of the working group there will be another stage in which the working group as such will no longer be involved. Q: This is for Mr. Kelmendi. As I understood, whatever you make, constitution or legal framework, you are taking a step that one day would lead to an independent Kosovo. My question is are you ready in the meeting of IAC when you face the Serbian representative to fight for independence of Kosovo in a peaceful, political and decent way. MK: Of course not just tomorrow, but in the past, we had a Serbian representative. We are ready to discuss and talk to the Serb representative at any moment. But we will not allow any representative or delegation of the Serb government to participate in the working group and express his opinion. We respect every minority living in Kosovo and according to the decision taken by Mr. Haekkerup we would like to have the representative of the Serb community taking part in this working group. Of course, there are two phases of our work, now we are working on the document that we will call the constitution of Kosovo under which the responsibilities will be handed over and during this transitional phase as we call it we will prepare for conditions where the people of Kosovo express their own will regarding the future of this country because we cannot plan on any final settlement on Kosovo without taking into account the will of the people of Kosovo and within this I have my own will and I will be in favour of an independent Kosovo. Q: I just asked if you are ready to fight politically and peacefully for an independent Kosovo? This can go on for 10 or 20 years. MK: Of course we are not interested in that and all our talks are directed to solving the problems democratically. I didn't mention fighting a war, I only said organizing this to solve this problem in a democratic way/ I am finally let me express my opinion. I do not wish that this transitional phase last for 20 or 30 years. We are working on a document that will last for only three years and then we shall see. AB: If I am allowed, I would give a more concise answer. The answer is yes. We will try to achieve our goal through political means because we have always tries to reach this goal and achieve this aspiration through political means. The war in Kosovo was imposed on us and I heard that during the coming tow or three years, we through a political process together with the international community will manage to convince the international factor that the independence we are seeking is the real solution and maybe it will put an end to the crisis here and every other solution would only prolong the crisis. MK: So you have got different explanations but the conclusion is the same. Q: You expect the text to finish by Friday. So what would be the procedure before the date for the election can be set? JVL: As soon as we hand over the text to the SRSG, of course it's in his hands and he will do all the necessary consultations and immediately as he has already pronounced before hand he would announce the date of the elections. That is of course one of the most important things after having finalized the document, so that the preparations can continue to go ahead and before the winter the elections can take place. Q: If I am correct and I think I am. Before your work started on the legal framework, the SRSG announced that the document would be handed over to different foreign governments. My question is are you concerned, that your pure juridical document will face some political judgement or criticism even? JVL: Yes, that's possible though I don't hope that it will happen. So
when I leave on Friday and I can tell you already now that probably we
will meet then on Friday at 12 o'clock or whatever time for another press
conference. In fact, our text will remain untouched, it will be the fruit
of the JWG and we try to reach as much consensus as possible. Some
political questions as you have heard from my colleague here will have to
be dealt with by the politicians.
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