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Kosovo’s government on Thursday rejected criticism from QUINT, the EU and the OSCE over its decision to finally expropriate more than 100 plots of land in Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country, saying their joint statement “erroneously determined the factual situation and made a legal assessment that is not based on arguments”.
A day earlier, Radio reported on the final decision of the Kosovo government to expropriate land in Leposavik and Zubin Potok, which did not include some private lands but only those citizens who won their cases in court.
QUINT (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy), the EU and OSCE mission to Kosovo, said in a statement during the day on Thursday that “the government violated its own laws and regulations due to procedural and technical deficiencies in the expropriation process. We note that the Kosovo judicial system identified similar legal issues in the initial expropriation decision, but the government has yet to resolve them.”
“The plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit against the preliminary decision on expropriation, claiming that the procedure violated the law,” the Kosovo government said in a Facebook post late Thursday in response to the joint statement.
“The court found that, except for a few plaintiffs, the plaintiffs had no legitimacy in the proceedings because they were not the owners of the expropriated properties. In its final decision, the government reflected the court’s decision and ruled out the expropriation of the properties of the successful plaintiffs,” the government said in its announcement.
The Kosovo government initiated expropriation procedures in the municipalities of Leposavik and Zubin Potok in mid-January 2023, when some land there was declared “immovable property of special public interest – necessary for the realization of infrastructure projects of special public interest”.
According to the government’s initial decision, the total area planned to be expropriated at that time was about 104 hectares in Leposaviq and about 33 hectares in Zubin Potok.
However, in the Kosovo government’s final decision on May 30, it was stated that Leposavik would have 96 hectares of land expropriated, which means 8 hectares less.
“While the properties of some claimants have been removed from the final expropriation decision, we regret that the Kosovo government did not wait until all public court proceedings had been fully adjudicated before taking this decision,” QUINT, the EU and the OSCE said.
They said, among other things, that “it is necessary for the government to work to ensure that expropriations are carried out in accordance with the law”.
They demand due process and full respect for the property rights of owners.
The Kosovo Court of Appeal confirmed to Radio Free Europe on 5 June that a review of the lower court’s decision on the issue was still ongoing.
Kosovo government spokesman Përparim Kryeziu told Radio Free Europe on Wednesday that the Kosovo government’s final decision on the expropriation of land in Leposavik and Zubin Potok was made based on the final judgment of the Kosovo court. Kosovo requested that certain plots of land be exempted from expropriation.
“The government acted in accordance with the court decision and existing laws after the court found that most plaintiffs did not have the legitimacy to initiate legal proceedings as they could not prove their ownership of the expropriated land, which was clear,” Kryeziu said.
In a statement, QUINT stressed that they had previously expressed to the government their concerns that “the expropriation bill is not in line with Kosovo’s commitments under the Ahtisaari Plan,” adding that they encouraged amending the law accordingly before ratification.
The Basic Court of Pristina dismissed most of the lawsuits filed by Serbian citizens who sued the Kosovo government and demanded “proof that there is no special public interest in the plaintiffs’ real estate.” /REL
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