Support to the Office of the Prime Minister

Community rights should be guaranteed by the rule of law that is actively applied on the daily basis. The implementation of the law is thus largely supported by the ECMI. Within this direction ECMI seeks for establishing a permanent and effective coordination point that would work on the actual implementation and application of the law at the governmental level.

The main focus of this project is to support the transition period in Kosovo through the office of the Prime Minister. ECMI aims to provide the necessary support to ensure that the communities’ rights are part of the government work on a daily basis and to create conditions for their effective implementation.

Generally, the project objectives involve the following:

1. To enforce legal obligations stated in the relevant legal texts (Special Law on Communities, Constitution) and concrete policy decision and put them into effect as specific program actions directed towards communities.

2. To ensure that the Office has a working strategy for dealing with minority issues.

3. To ensure that the Office considers inputs and suggestions made by various governmental bodies in respect of security, inter-community relations, confidence building, returns and displaced issues, communities’ rights and interests and brings them into action.

4. To assist OPM to establish a unified and consistent approach to minority rights across governmental agencies, Kosovo institutions and other relevant actors.

5. Once status is defined, ECMI will assist the OPM to set up the position of a permanent Expert Advisor dealing with the communities’ rights.

To date, a positive climate has been established that fosters a constructive interaction and dialogue between ECMI and PM Office. Continuous contacts and information sharing help to maintain effective exchange of working practices and ideas. In order to co-ordinate activities and provide targeted support ECMI carried out a thorough research focused on the functioning of the Office of the PM to elicit the areas that require support the most. ECMI activities are highly welcomed by the PM Office which is proved by the fact that an initial agreement (MoU) on the terms of reference for the ECMI support to the Office was reached.

The project Support to the Office of the Prime Minister receives funding from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).>