VZCZCXRO6909
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHPS #0357/01 2320918
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 200918Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9216
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1191
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1712
RHFMIUU/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
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUZEJAA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 000357 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/PGI, INL, DRL, PRM, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: TOWARD REFRAMING THE DEBATE ON DECENTRALIZATION AND 
ELECTIONS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
REF: August 17 Washington-Pristina-Belgrade DVC 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Disputes within the international community on 
the process of decentralization and the timing for elections have 
overshadowed our unanimity on the most basic goals - the need for 
successful decentralization and successful elections.  As August 
ends, and deadlines for finalizing the November 15 elections pass, 
we should look to refocus the debate on issues of substance, namely 
what a successful new municipality must do to govern, to provide 
services, and to build legitimacy with its citizens.  By asking 
these questions, perhaps we can overcome recent divisions and build 
the cohesive effort needed among internationals and with our GOK 
counterparts over the next months to build municipalities that are 
ready to run.  As promised during ref, here are our thoughts on a 
possible way forward.  END SUMMARY 
 
Where We Are Now 
---------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Quint has been stalemated for months over the issue of 
the November 15 municipal elections and decentralization (i.e., 
whether to proceed with elections in the new Serb-majority 
municipalities mandated by the Ahtisaari Plan).  We share the same 
goals with our Quint and ICO partners:  successful elections and 
successful decentralization.  Nonetheless, our assessment remains 
that there is insufficient time to establish even the basic 
infrastructure necessary both for the new municipalities to function 
and to convince Kosovo Serbs to participate in the municipal 
elections in sufficient numbers.  Absent these, municipal 
governments will at best lack legitimacy, and, at worst, will be run 
by the Albanians who came out to vote.  In short, we believe that if 
we attempt to force elections in municipalities where little has 
been done beyond creation of Municipal Preparation Teams (MPT), we 
risk failed elections and a discredited decentralization process. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The UK believes that Kosovo Serbs are eager to participate 
in elections for the new municipalities and will become disenchanted 
with the GOK's commitment to local self-government if elections are 
delayed.  The UK also believes that the creation of the MPTs makes 
the new municipalities sufficiently tangible to persuade enough 
Kosovo Serbs to vote on November 15, tepid negative signals from 
Belgrade notwithstanding.  The International Civilian Office (ICO) 
prefers that elections take place in as many municipalities as 
possible, with 38 being the ideal, and like the UK, some within the 
ICO have what we believe to be unrealistically high expectations 
about Kosovo Serb voter turnout.  The Germans see the risks as we 
do, and tend to favor our approach.  Both the French and Italian 
embassies are on the fence, receptive to the UK's optimism but 
cautious about pushing decentralization too far, too quickly. 
 
Decentralization Remains Critical 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Only two of the MPTs for the new Serb-majority 
municipalities have been established:  Klokot and Gracanica.  ICO 
plans to complete the process of establishing the MPTs for Ranilug 
and Partesh within the next two weeks.  The final MPTs, Mitrovica 
North and Novo Brdo, would follow.  Even if the remaining MPTs were 
rolled out without a hitch, it is hard to imagine a scenario that 
would permit sufficient time for the Central Election Commission to 
make the necessary technical preparations for elections in all these 
new municipalities.  In other words, the facts on the ground may 
force a de facto delinking of elections and decentralization, but 
this still begs the question, how do we ensure the international 
community unites behind a successful push for decentralization. 
Decentralization remains central to a multiethnic, democratic future 
for Kosovo, and our prospects for accomplishing it diminish if the 
debate over elections and decentralization ends unconstructively. 
 
Reframing the Issue 
------------------- 
 
PRISTINA 00000357  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) We recommend reframing the issue and beginning a discussion 
with our Quint and ICO partners about what must be done:  first, to 
build sentiment among Kosovo Serbs that they have a stake in the new 
municipalities, and second, to create municipal structures that 
deliver results in areas important to Kosovo Serbs, thus validating 
their cooperation and participation. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Building buy in starts at the local level.  International 
and GOK stakeholders must continue to build relationships with local 
Kosovo Serb leaders.  Sustained public outreach is necessary to 
overcome misunderstanding and distrust, and to describe the very 
real benefits (and additional financial resources) decentralization 
will bring to Kosovo Serb communities.  An effective 
get-out-the-vote program will also be needed in the run up to 
elections in these areas.  We also acknowledge that Belgrade could 
play a constructive role, if the Serbian Government can be convinced 
to signal clearly its support for decentralization (without doing so 
in a manner designed to provoke a negative reaction from the GOK). 
This groundwork is critical to the success of decentralization, but 
we do not believe there is enough time between now and September 15 
(when candidate lists are due) or November 15 to accomplish all of 
this. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Second, the new municipalities must deliver immediate 
results.  Kosovo Serbs who show the courage to run for election will 
need key municipal offices ready to function upon taking office. 
They cannot afford politically to take another a year or more to try 
to set them up - an outcome that will likely result in their 
constituents losing faith in the process.  With this in mind, we 
spoke with the USAID implementing partner - Research Triangle 
Institute (RTI) - working with the Ministry of Local Government 
Administration (MLGA) and the MPTs to establish the new 
municipalities.  RTI is familiar with the conditions on the ground, 
and based on the Pilot Municipal Unit (PMU) experience, stressed 
that without a clear vision of when the process of establishment is 
complete, it can drag on without a clear resolution.  RTI offered us 
four areas where the new municipalities should establish their bone 
fides among local Serbs before they can be considered functional and 
ready to hold elections for a municipal assembly and mayor: 1) 
governance structures; 2) organizational structure; 3) core 
competencies and services; and, 4) facilities and equipment. 
 
Governance Structure 
-------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) As RTI notes, the Law on Municipal Boundaries has already 
accomplished the most basic requirement for establishing a new 
municipality - delineated boundaries.  Beyond this most basic 
criterion, there are other minimum legal and policy/structural 
requirements for a municipality.  These include:  drafting a 
municipal statute; creating an organogram of departments and 
sub-departments; and hiring civil servants.  Decisions on issues 
like these are tricky, and presuppose other work within MPTs 
themselves, like establishing internal leadership and rules of 
procedure.  If the MPTs are to do the things they need to do to move 
a municipality towards its minimum requirements for functionality, 
the MPTs themselves will need clear and robust interpretations of 
their own mandates. 
 
Organizational Structure 
------------------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) Organizational structure refers to those departments and 
offices within a municipality that provide the basic building blocks 
for municipal operations.  At a minimum there are six functional 
departments/offices that the new municipalities require:  finance 
and budget; administration; legal office; procurement; internal 
audit; and inspections.  Other important organizational staff that 
may follow later include maintenance workers, public information 
officers, and project officers.  With sufficient time, the ideal 
situation would allow for staff in the new municipalities to shadow 
their counterparts from the mother municipalities to learn about how 
 
PRISTINA 00000357  003 OF 004 
 
 
a municipal government operates. 
 
Competencies/Services 
--------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The new municipalities' central responsibility is to 
provide services to residents.  These include those services that 
the municipality directs and those that it implements with delegated 
authority from the central government.  Providing services to 
constituents is the most concrete way to make the municipalities 
"real" to Kosovo Serbs and create for them a stake in their success. 
 It would provide a tangible counter to the argument that 
municipalities are nothing more than paper organizations, and that 
the Serbs leading them are merely Quislings only interested in a GOK 
paycheck.  After all, the exercise of several competencies, such as 
management of cadastral records, civil registration, or distribution 
of social assistance payments, would provide for considerable 
interaction between the community and the municipality and would 
build recognition and acceptance for the new institutions. 
 
Facilities and Equipment 
------------------------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) Finally, the new municipalities need to acquire facilities 
and equipment, such as vehicles and computers, to start begin 
operations.  The amount and types of space would be dictated by 
decisions concerning the competencies they exercise in the beginning 
(and these would vary from new municipality to new municipality 
based on local leaders' assessments of their constituents' most 
pressing needs).  Facilities could include a municipal office, 
meeting room, schools, and health clinics.  Requirements, and time 
needed, will vary by municipal size and the presence of pre-existing 
facilities. 
 
Getting from Here to There 
-------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) RTI tells us that it would require at least six to eight 
months' work following the appointment of an MPT before sufficient 
progress could be made for a new municipality to stand on its own, 
particularly in the key areas of competencies and service.  The pace 
of progress will vary from municipality to municipality depending 
upon a host of factors, such as size, but the MPTs cannot do it by 
themselves.  This would suggest we aim to hold the inaugural 
elections for the new municipalities in the first half of 2010. 
Within that timeframe, we believe that the MPTs and the 
international community would have sufficient time both to encourage 
enough Kosovo Serbs to vote and to establish the critical municipal 
infrastructure needed to deliver immediate tangible results that 
would create buy-in from Kosovo Serbs.  Both goals will take 
significant international community support and resources to 
accomplish. 
 
¶13. (SBU) USAID, though RTI, is already working in Klokot on some of 
these issues, and it plans to begin work shortly in Gracanica. 
RTI's capacity is limited, however.  It will need additional 
resources, but success would require greater involvement from other 
donors as well.  In our judgment, such support is currently lacking, 
because, in part, discussions of substance have been overwhelmed by 
debates on process, like elections and formation of MPTs.  We would 
need to work with the Ministry for Local Government and 
Administration (MLGA) to develop an action plan for it to deploy its 
limited resources and around which donors (as well as KFOR, which 
has the capacity to contribute through "humanitarian" projects) 
could rally.  Success will also require full cooperation from the 
GOK and the mother municipalities.  This may be problematic between 
now and November 15 given political pressures, but we would need to, 
at a minimum, ensure the GOK and mother municipalities do not make 
statements or take decisions that are unhelpful between now and 
then. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
PRISTINA 00000357  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶14. (SBU) Decentralization is at the heart of the Ahtisaari Plan, 
and its success is central for Kosovo's long-term prospects and the 
U.S. goal of creating a stable Kosovo.  We need to get it right. 
Though there will never be an iron-clad guarantee of success, we 
think we can reduce the risks of failure by using the time between 
now spring 2010 to make the new municipalities into something more 
than potential and organogram, which is basically what the MPTs are 
now.  Belgrade and hard core Kosovo Serb rejectionists will squawk 
if elections in the new municipalities are postponed, but they will 
squawk even louder if elections are held and return Albanian-led 
governments.  We will not get a second chance to make it right, and 
failure now will set us back more broadly.  We think we can make the 
case to those Kosovo Serbs who have stepped up to serve on the MPTs 
and others that the commitment to decentralization is genuine if 
there is a robust international community and GOK effort to give the 
new municipalities meaningful substance between now and a date in 
the first half of 2010.  The 2010 date would also make clear to 
those within the GOK (and the opposition) who would like 
decentralization to go away, that it is not a commitment they can 
wiggle out of or wait us out on.  We hope these thoughts might 
provide a basis for uniting the Quint and the ICO around an agreed 
strategy on decentralization and suggest we discuss them and 
possible next steps at our August 24 DVC. 
 
MURPHY