Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PRISTINA766
2006-09-12 16:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:  

KOSOVO: SOUTHERN SERB MUNICALITY OF STRPCE

Tags:  PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM UNMIK YI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0728
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHPS #0766/01 2551653
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 121653Z SEP 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6492
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0835
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHFMISS/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000766 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2015
TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: SOUTHERN SERB MUNICALITY OF STRPCE
COMPLAINS BUT STAYS ENGAGED WITH PRISTINA


Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000766

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2015
TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: SOUTHERN SERB MUNICALITY OF STRPCE
COMPLAINS BUT STAYS ENGAGED WITH PRISTINA


Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY. Kosovo Serb leaders of Strpce municipality
complain that despite running "the only real multi-ethnic
municipality in Kosovo," their efforts are severely hampered
by dwindling resources from Pristina. While admitting that
they also receive financial transfers from Belgrade, these
leaders claim this money does not go toward the municipality
itself and contend that they are being disproportionately
disadvantaged compared to Albanian municipalities.
Internationals on the ground tell us they do not see evidence
of this, saying all municipalities suffer from severe
shortfalls and citing Strpce's inflated municipal workforce
and excessive salaries. Despite a belief that
decentralization will enhance ties to and perhaps increase
transfers from Belgrade, these leaders, unlike their
counterparts in the north, do want to stay engaged with
Pristina. END SUMMARY.

A Serb Municipality Complains, But Deals With Pristina


2. (C) Unlike the three Serb-majority municipalities in
northern Kosovo, Strpce has not formally cut ties with
Pristina, but continues to receive funding from the Kosovo
Consolidated Budget (KCB). However, Strpce mayor Stanko
Jakovljevic and deputy mayor Slavisa Staletovic told us
recently that despite their success at running Kosovo's "only
real multi-ethnic municipality," their job has become
steadily more difficult because Pristina's Ministry of
Finance has reduced their municipal budget each year. (Note.
According to November 2005 OSCE estimates, the population of
Strpce is approximately 13,600, including 9,100 Kosovo Serbs,
4,500 Kosovo Albanians and 37 Roma. End Note.) Describing
their situation as "catastrophic," the two officials said
municipal assembly members have not received their salaries
since January, and that the assembly and committees have not

met for months, seriously hampering the functioning of the
municipality. They claimed Strpce and Novo Brdo, another
Serb municipality that receives funding from Pristina, are
disproportionally affected by declining budgets, and labeled
this as discrimination against Kosovo Serbs.


3. (C) Jakovljevic admitted that Strpce also receives
funding from Belgrade's Kosovo Coordination Center (CCK),of
which he is the local rep, but denied that municipal workers
received salaries from Belgrade. He said that all Serb
health care and education workers in Strpce receive their
salaries from the CCK, and that the CCK also provides social
assistance to poor families and assists with infrastructure
development.

Internationals Deny Discrimination Charge


4. (C) UNMIK Strpce municipal representative Jacqueline King
told us that other municipalities around Kosovo also face
declining budgets, and denied that Strpce was being singled
out. She said that as a temporary solution, the Ministry of
Finance will transfer part of the Strpce health care budget
to the municipal government to assist with the shortfalls.
King also commented that major financial decisions are long
overdue because both Serb and Albanian members of key
committees have effectively been "on strike."


5. (C) The resident municipal advisor to USAID's Local
Government Initiative in Strpce, Andrzej Pecikiewicz, also
questioned the discrimination charge. He asserted that
Strpce's budgetary problems stem partially from excessive
salaries for assembly members -- all of whom have other full
time jobs -- and from an inflated municipal workforce. The
municipality could provide commensurate services with half
(or less) of its current staff, he concluded.

Serbs See Decentralization Helping


6. (C) King noted that Serb residents of Strpce believe that
a substantive decentralization package will alleviate some of

PRISTINA 00000766 002 OF 002


their financial concerns by giving them greater autonomy and
enabling enhanced ties with Belgrade and other Serb-majority
municipalities. In contrast, she said, local Kosovo
Albanians fear decentralization will marginalize or even
force them out of local government. King was skeptical of
Strpce Serb leaders' claims that they will leave if Kosovo
becomes independent, since ongoing construction projects in
the Serb areas speak to a long-term presence, regardless of
status. Still, she noted, the opposition of Strpce Serb
leaders to the privatization of the Brezovica ski complex --
an economic lifeline for the local Serb community's future --
demonstrates the continued influence of Belgrade and northern
Serb hard-liners on Serb officials in the southern part of
Kosovo.


7. (C) COMMENT. Strpce's Serb leaders are in a tough place.
Lacking the degree of subsidization from Belgrade that
northern Serb municipalities enjoy, municipal officials in
Strpce have no choice but to continue cooperation with the
Pristina government. For that, they are the recipients of an
unending stream of criticism and pressure from northern Serb
leaders and Belgrade, who press them to fall in line with the
northern Serb boycott of PISG funding. Already uneasy in
their relationship with northern leaders and uncertain of
their future political prospects, Strpce officials are even
more loath to engage in the kind of widespread layoffs of
municipal employees that would be needed to balance the
municipality's books. They will not be able to avoid
economic rationalization in the long run, but in the short
term they deserve as much support as we can give them. Post
will continue to look for ways to bolster the leadership in
these key Serb enclaves in Kosovo's south. END COMMENT.


8. (U) Post clears this message in its entirety for release
to Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
KAIDANOW