Constitution of Kosovo

The unicameral Assembly of the Republic exercises the legislative power, the executive branch led by the President and the Prime Minister which are responsible for implementing laws and the judicial system headed by the Supreme Court.

On 7 September 1990 in the town of Kaçanik, 35 miles south of Pristina and in an improvised session promulgated the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

It also established a requirement that the post-conflict status process must take full account of "the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."

The problem for either side was noted by Ylber Hysa: Although "Resolution 1244 respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo", and even provided for Serbian troops to be stationed in the province, on the ground "certain territories are under the full control of KFOR and the international administration" without any Serbian involvement (citat: Ylber Hysa, "Kosovo: a permanent international protectorate?

The severely circumscribed control exercised by Serbia in Kosovo has led some commentators to describe the nature of its sovereignty as purely "nominal".

UNMIK was given exclusive rights to manage Kosovo's economic affairs and stated its intent in the Constitutional Framework to establish a market economy.

Swedish economist Jessica Johnson claims that the fact that Kosovo is still regarded in law as being part of Serbia, as well as the ongoing political tensions, has caused it significant difficulties in achieving economic development and that its uncertain legal status has prevented it from accessing lending from International Financial Institutions such as the World Bank.

Kouchner realized that Rambouillet could not be the document that would establish a sustainable government scheme for Kosovo and Serbia, though the idea of using the peace accords as a foundation for the constitution would be an inspiration for the Ahtisaari Plan.

Koštunica claimed that because Serbia had still not formed a new government after the 21 January parliamentary elections he had no mandate to discuss Kosovo and therefore could not meet Ahtisaari.

Citat: ^ "Serbian leaders warn UN plan for Kosovo could destabilize Balkans", International Herald Tribune, Belgrade, 7 February 2007.

citat: ^ EU Presidency Statement on the Kosovo status proposals to be presented today by Martti Ahtisaari in Belgrade and Pristina, 2 February 2007.

The plan, prepared by the UN Special Envoy and former President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, hoped that a supervised independence by the European Union (without expressly using the word "independence") would show that the polarized interests in Kosovo could sustain self-governance with a constitution and a representative government that was obligated to expressly protect its minorities' rights.

Border demarcation talks with Macedonia were delayed because the Kosovars insisted on the pre-condition of official recognition but eventually withdrew the opposition.

The International Steering Group, in its final meeting with the authorities in Pristina, declared that the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement, known as the Ahtisaari plan after its Finnish UN creator, had been substantially implemented.

[35] In a period of fourteen months Ahtisaari held seventeen rounds of negotiations between Serbian and Kosovar officials in Vienna and made twenty-six expert missions to both capitals.

These discussions had a great support of the Contact Group, which included the United States, the UK, France, Germany and Italy as well as Russia.

The constitution and laws provide for the authorities and responsibilities of the freely elected unicameral national Assembly, the Assembly-approved government, and the Assembly-elected president.

Communities are defined as national, ethnic, cultural, linguistic or religious groups traditionally present in the Republic of Kosovo that are not in the majority.

The Republic of Kosovo shall create appropriate conditions that enable communities and their members to freely maintain, express and develop their identities.

All persons belonging to communities have the right to receive public education at all levels, in one of the official languages of Kosovo of their choice.

The Government of the Republic of Kosovo takes the necessary measures to ensure that persons belonging to communities shall have equal access to health care without discrimination.

Communities and their members have the right to effective participation in political decision-making at all levels of government, including the decisions of special importance for them or for the areas in which they live.

This council will assist in the organization and the articulation of the views of communities and their members in relation to legislation, public policies and programs of special importance to them.

There is the general question as to how many specific details implementing the Ahtisaari requirements should be included, and there are the points mentioned in the above constitutions, which will need to be considered as well.

[68] In the Constitution of Kosovo this security institution is regulated by the article: The AKI concerns the need for timely and accurate information about intelligence, counterintelligence, domestic and foreign threats, international or domestic terrorism, narcotics production and trafficking, organized crime, economic crime, sabotage and all other intelligence issues related to Kosovo security.

Also a particular significance in the choice of the Ombudsman has the person's character, his moral and other values which include experience and knowledge in the field of human rights.

First two articles – 146 and 147 explain the authorities, privileges and legal capacities of the International Civilian Representatives as mandated under the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status settlement of 26 March 2007.

Second two articles – 148 and 149 deal with the construction of the assembly (in first two elections mandates), creating reserved seats for its minorities in the process and the adoption of the vital laws with the majority vote present.

On 10 September 2012, President Barack Obama said: Kosovo has made "significant progress" in "building the institutions of a modern, multi-ethnic, inclusive and democratic state."

The second goal was to provide a constitution that would help ensure broad international acceptance of the new country and quick recognition of Kosovo's independence".