"Feith strategy for north of Kosovo"

The document, which Tanjug news agency says it has seen, is attributed to the International Civilian Office in Kosovo (ICO) and its chief Pieter Feith, and was prepared in cooperation with the Kosovo Albanian government in Pristina, reports say.

It also refers to the Serbian institution in the north of the province as "parallel structures", according to the news agency.

The draft plan was composed together with the temporary government in Pristina and created as part of the decentralization process in Kosovo aimed at taking control over the north part of Kosovo, the document says.

The northern parts of the region are predominantly inhabited by Serbs who are rejecting both the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence made two years ago, and the authority of the government in Pristina.

Now the plan proposes to be carried out via a solution that would preserve Belgrade's dignity and reduce and finally cut the support to the parallel structures simultaneously bringing Serbia closer to the EU, according to Tanjug's report of the Feith's draft document.

According to the document, Belgrade should also be forced to stop discouraging Serbs in Kosovo from voting in the elections organized by Pristina.

The authors of the document believe that the forthcoming decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legality of the Kosovo UDI will be ambiguous and that after it, Belgrade will inevitably change its Kosovo-related policy one way or another.

"On the one hand, Belgrade cold continue with its confrontational policy that seemingly has the partition of Kosovo as its goal, as well as with pressuring for some kind of new negotiations, or it could use the ICJ decision as a basis to reduce its support for the parallel structures, and work with the international community."

EULEX should increase its visibility and presence in the north and open an office, says the draft. "Moreover, efforts in view of fight against the network of organized crime in the north should be intensified and the operation of the court in North Mitrovica improved."

The draft also envisages the opening of the local office in Bosnjacka Mahala neighborhood of northern Kosovska Mitrovica on February 9, 2010 and the establishing of the first advisory council in the north municipalities on March 30, 2010.

The possible period for the forming of the new municipality of "northern Mitrovica" that is mentioned most often is the fall of this year.

It is also added that the decentralization of "northern Mitrovica" will take giving encouragement to the local Serbs to take part in what is described as "legitimate institutions of Kosovo".

"The international community must ensure that Belgrade takes at least a neutral position regarding the decentralization in the north and that it refrains from interfering with the process."

The document also predicts that the "reestablishment of customs will be facilitated once the presence of EULEX in the field has been normalized".

"The government of Kosovo and international actors should not legalize the parallel municipal administration but they should avoid representing the participation of Kosovo Serbs in the new government as acceptance of independence," says the document.

EULEX spokesperson Karin Limdal said that the draft strategy for northern Kosovo is not a European Union strategy.

But she added that it was EULEX's mandate to support the Kosovo institutions in establishing the functional rule of law in Kosovo, the north included.

"This is not a strategy of the EU, even though we were consulted on the draft along with other partners," Limdal told the Tanjug news agency, adding that it is in the interest of EULEX to implement the rule of law and a functioning court system in northern Kosovo.

"EULEX does not recognize or help the so-called parallel structures in Kosovo. This was stated in the joint action on which all 27 member-states of the EU member-states agreed. Strong, fair and multi-ethnic, lawful institutions for all the communities is the only option," Limdal said.

She added that, "in that sense", it is irrelevant whether EULEX supports the strategy of the Kosovo institutions and the International Civil Office (ICO).

"Last week, EULEX said that it was concerned over the plans of Belgrade in Kosovo in the judicial field. We believe that there cannot be two operative court systems at the same time in the same place. There would be no justice with two authorities. It will spark conflicting decision that will go against the rights of the population," Limdal was quoted.

She said that progress in northern Kosovo is only possible through dialogue, and "step by step".