To move out or integrate into the Kosovo education system - that's the ultimatum given to a Serbian faculty in the north of Kosovo. Interlocutors Dojce Velea they are not surprised by that, nor by the absence of reactions from Belgrade.
Faculty of Technical Sciences (FTN) in Kosovska Mitrovica - which functions within the school system of the Republic of Serbia and is part of the University of Pristina with a temporary seat in Kosovska Mitrovica - three days ago a letter from the University of Kosovo was delivered in Pristina.
It states that the Faculty is "currently an illegal user of a plot of land owned by the University of Prishtina, Republic of Kosovo", which sends a "request for the release of the usurped real estate" and asks FTN to move out within 30 days or start the procedure of regulating relations with the University of Pristina.
This event drew the public's attention to an issue that has been one of the biggest concerns of Kosovo Serbs in recent months - the integration of education and healthcare into the Kosovo system, the two only remaining areas that Kosovo function within the system of the Republic of Serbia.
Many prepared, few surprised
This development of the situation regarding the remaining parallel structures in Kosovo, it seems, did not surprise either the analysts or the Serbs there. Health and education employees have been rapidly submitting requests for the verification of Serbian diplomas to the Kosovo system for months, so that they would not be ready to welcome the news of integration announced by the Pristina authorities.
As lawyer Dragutin Nenezić explains to DW, this is "an integral part of the process that is expected". But, he says, he unexpectedly started from the question of property ownership, and not the Law on Foreigners - which comes into force on March 15, and overlooks the fact that everyone who does not have Kosovo documents will have to register for residence in Kosovo.
However, "what is worrisome is the speed and synchronization of moves", believes Branka Petković, a professor at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics at the University of Pristina with temporary headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica.
She points out that the impression is "that the processes have been prepared for a long time, with silence or an insufficiently adequate response from our competent institutions and authorities", and that the situation is further aggravated by the fact that the academic community and citizens do not have clear information about the plans and strategy of "preserving the last vitally important institutions that remain for the Serbian and non-Albanian communities in Kosovo, education and health".
"Teaching staff and students are seriously worried," Professor Petković points out. This was confirmed in a statement to DW by a student from this University, who wished to remain anonymous.
He points out that the students "are listless, demoralized, depressed, as expected. No one asks them, and no one from the faculty administration informs them", which, he says, "further irritates them".
"No one knows for sure how the situation will unfold, but there is never as much talk about leaving as before," he points out.
Next week crucial?
Dragiša Mijačić, coordinator of the Working Group for Chapter 35 of the National Convention on the European Union, sees the letter sent to FTN as "another type of continuous pressure on the educational institutions of the Republic of Serbia", but also points to the problem of not solving the issue of public property in Kosovo.
"It is a topic that the Government of Serbia, understandably also the Government of Kosovo, has been avoiding for years. Now that type of inertia is paying off, and the same can happen with other public facilities such as the hospital in North Mitrovica, primary and secondary schools, all other public facilities," Mijačić points out.
The letter was delivered to FTN on the same day that the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bisljimi, stated that the next few weeks are crucial for health and education. On that occasion, he sent an invitation to the mayors of municipalities with a Serbian majority for a meeting on the topic of including these institutions in the Kosovo system.
The mayors of the municipalities in the North responded to the meeting with the Minister of Local Self-Government Eljbert Krasnić today in Pristina, but the topic, as the mayor of North Mitrovica Milan Radojević pointed out, was not the integration of health and education.
"That issue is not for us, it is an issue that should be resolved in Brussels, between the official negotiators of Belgrade and Pristina. As mayors, we believe that this is not a topic that should be dealt with by mayors, but exclusively a topic for negotiations," said Radojević.
He pointed out that the topic of the meeting was exclusively related to the problems in municipalities with a Serbian majority, and expressed the hope that "both the minister and the government will listen to the problems we are facing in our municipalities."
Under the radar of both Belgrade and Pristina
Although the news about the request for the eviction of one of the Serbian faculties is almost officially the beginning of the "unwinding of the knots" regarding the integration of education into Kosovo's institutions, there were lukewarm, almost non-existent reactions from Belgrade.
The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, was the only one to speak out, who told the deputy director of the European Service for Foreign Affairs for Western Europe, Emanuel Žiofre, that: "Belgrade and the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija expect the European Union and all other relevant actors to take with the greatest seriousness such moves and announcements by Pristina, which lead to the direct ethnic cleansing of our people from these areas."
DW interlocutors are not surprised by such reactions. "First of all, the silence of President Vučić, who is the main creator and bearer of Serbia's policy towards Kosovo, is indicative. Although he wants to escape from the topic of Kosovo, the greatest responsibility and the greatest expectations are certainly on him," Dragiša Mijačić points out.
Although it did not advertise on the day of the delivery of the letter, Srpska lista - the largest party of Kosovo Serbs - held a meeting with representatives of health and educational institutions yesterday, right in the premises of the mentioned FTN. With the declaration that was adopted, they requested legal and administrative relief for citizens, protection of educational and health institutions, as well as stronger engagement of the international community.
On the other hand, in the ranks of Kosovo politicians, this news seems to have passed even more unnoticed. Preoccupied with the constitution of the Government and the Assembly, after months of political blockade, reactions from Pristina were almost absent.
However, the new-old prime minister of Kosovo, Aljbin Kurti, announced the "gradual integration of the health and education system" in mid-January, with the message that this process will take place in coordination with the European Union and with respect for the views of the Serbian community.
"It's just an indication that all this is the implementation of what was agreed upon a couple of years ago. This level of silence only says that everything was done on purpose," concludes lawyer Dragutin Nenezić.
