Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T10:47:04.464Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Role of the United Nations and the European Union in the Privatization of Kosovo's Socially-Owned Enterprises

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The privatization of Kosovo's socially owned property and enterprises differs significantly from privatization programs undertaken in other countries, especially in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe when they transitioned from communism to democracy and free market systems. What is unique about Kosovo's privatization program is that it was designed and implemented under the authority of the United Nations at a time when Kosovo was directly administered by the United Nations. It is perhaps so far the only privatization program that was initiated and implemented by the United Nations under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Various other international organizations, such as the European Union, played a significant role in this process as part of their responsibilities in the administration of Kosovo. An obvious question is what the United Nations would have to do with privatization in the context of territorial administration under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and if the United Nation's authority to administer Kosovo would include the authority to privatize property, the legal nature of which was unclear even when it was developed in former Yugoslavia. The discussion of these and other legal questions and controversies which are related to the privatization process in Kosovo are the main subject of this article, with a focus on the role of the United Nations and the European Union in this process.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo, Judgment in Case No KI 25/10 “Constitutional Review of the Decision of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo, ASC-09-089, dated 4 February 2010”, available at: http://www.gjk-ks.org/repository/docs/ki_25_10_ag_ang.pdf (last accessed: 27 June 2013).Google Scholar

2 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Privatization in Kosovo: Judicial Review of Kosovo Trust Agency Matters by the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo (OSCE) 5 (2008).Google Scholar

3 Medjad, Karim, The Fate of the Yugoslav Model: A Case Against Legal Conformity, 52 Amer. J. of Comp L. 287 (2004).Google Scholar

4 Coronna, M.E., The Concept of Social Property and the Rights of the Foreign Investor in Yugoslavia, 11 Rev. of Socialist L. 230 (1985).Google Scholar

5 Id. at 227–228.Google Scholar

6 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 289.Google Scholar

7 Coronna, , supra note 4, at 228.Google Scholar

8 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 289.Google Scholar

9 OSCE, supra note 2, at 6.Google Scholar

10 Coronna, , supra note 4, at 230.Google Scholar

11 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 288.Google Scholar

12 Fetahu, Adil, Transformation and Privatization of Kosovo's Socially Owned Assets, Address at the Workshop on Legal Economic Aspects of Transformation of Socially Owned Property and Privatization, Kosovo Law Center/World Bank (2002) 1–2; see also OSCE, supra note 2, at 6; Medjad, supra note 3, at 289.Google Scholar

13 Fetahu, , supra note 12, at 2.Google Scholar

14 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 290.Google Scholar

15 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 293.Google Scholar

16 Id. at 290.Google Scholar

17 OSCE, supra note 2, at 6.Google Scholar

18 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 290.Google Scholar

19 Lessons Learned and Analysis Unit of the EU Pillar of UNMIK in Kosovo, The Ottoman Dilemma – Power and Property Relations under the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (LLA) 16 (2002).Google Scholar

20 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 290.Google Scholar

21 LLA, supra note 19, at 12.Google Scholar

22 Id. at 12.Google Scholar

23 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 292.Google Scholar

24 Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development, The United Nations Mission in Kosovo and the Privatization of Socially Owned Property (KIPRED) 5 (2005).Google Scholar

25 Coronna, , supra note 4, at 228.Google Scholar

26 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 291.Google Scholar

27 Id. at 292.Google Scholar

28 Coronna, , supra note 4, at 230.Google Scholar

29 Id. at 233.Google Scholar

30 Id. at 230–232.Google Scholar

31 Peselj, Branko, Socialist Law and the New Yugoslav Constitution, 51 Georgetown L. J., at 698 (1963).Google Scholar

32 Id. at 696.Google Scholar

33 Coronna, , supra note 4, at 234.Google Scholar

34 Id. at 233–234.Google Scholar

35 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 291.Google Scholar

36 Fetahu, , supra note 12, at 4–5.Google Scholar

37 Id. at 5.Google Scholar

38 Id. at 5.Google Scholar

39 Conference Report- ‘Opinion No. 14', 32 International Legal Materials, International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia Arbitration Commission 1594 (1993)Google Scholar

40 Id. at 1594–1595.Google Scholar

41 Knudsen, Rita, Privatization in Kosovo: The International Project 1999–2008, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs 29 (2010).Google Scholar

42 Mencinger, Joze, Privatization in Slovenia, 3 Slov. L. Rev. 67 (2006).Google Scholar

43 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 304.Google Scholar

44 Id. at 304.Google Scholar

45 Id. at 304.Google Scholar

46 Knudsen, , supra note 41, at 30.Google Scholar

47 Id. at 30.Google Scholar

48 Id. at 31.Google Scholar

51 Perritt, Henry, Economic Sustainability and Final Status for Kosovo, 25 Uni. of Penn. J. of Int'l Econ. L. 268 (2004).Google Scholar

52 United Nations Security Council resolution 1244, 10 June 1999, (S/RES/1244 (1999)).Google Scholar

53 Resolution 1244, at para. 10.Google Scholar

54 Id. at para. 10.Google Scholar

55 Id. at para. 10.Google Scholar

56 Id. at para. 11 (e) and (f).Google Scholar

57 Knoll, Bernhard, From Benchmarking to Final Status? Kosovo and The Problem of an International Administration's Open-Ended Mandate, 16 Eur. J. of Int'l L. 638 (2005).Google Scholar

58 Perritt, , supra note 51, at 268.Google Scholar

59 Id. at 638.Google Scholar

60 Perritt, , supra note 51, at 262.Google Scholar

61 UNMIK Regulation No. 1999/1, amended by UNMIK Regulation No. 2000/54, Section 1; see also Rebecca Everly, Reviewing Governmental Acts of the United Nations in Kosovo, 8 Germ. L. J. 1 22 (2007), available at: http://www.germanlawjournal.com/index.php?pageID=11&artID=794 (last accessed: 27 June 2013).Google Scholar

62 Perritt, , supra note 51, at 268.Google Scholar

63 UNMIK Regulation No. 2000/1, Section 1.Google Scholar

64 UNMIK Regulation No. 1999/1, Section 3.Google Scholar

65 Id. at Section 6.Google Scholar

66 UNMIK Regulation No. 2000/54.Google Scholar

67 UNMIK Regulation No. 1999/24, Section 1.Google Scholar

68 UNMIK Regulation No. 2000/63, Section 2.2.Google Scholar

69 Both government structures, as well as existing Serb parallel structures, were integrated into the JIAS and formally ceased to exist as of 31 January 2001, see UNMIK Regulation No. 2000/1.Google Scholar

70 LLA, supra note 19, at 11.Google Scholar

71 Id. at 9.Google Scholar

72 Id. at 9–10.Google Scholar

73 Id. at 9.Google Scholar

74 Id. at 6.Google Scholar

75 LLA, supra note 19, at 12.Google Scholar

76 Id. at 12–13.Google Scholar

77 Id. at 13.Google Scholar

78 LLA, supra note 19, at 13–18; Knudsen, supra note 41, at 49–50.Google Scholar

79 LLA, supra note 19, at 18; Knudsen, supra note 41, at 50.Google Scholar

80 LLA, supra note 19, at 18.Google Scholar

81 Id. at 21.Google Scholar

82 Zaum, , infra note 85, at 157.Google Scholar

83 Id. at 157.Google Scholar

84 Id. at 157.Google Scholar

85 Zaum, Dominik, The Sovereignty Paradox – The Norms and Politics of International Statebuilding 155 (2007).Google Scholar

86 LLA, supra note 19, at 18.Google Scholar

87 Zaum, , supra note 85, at 156.Google Scholar

88 Corell, Hans, Note on UNMIK Draft Regulation on Kosovo Trust Agency (23 November 2001), attached to a Code Cable dated 30 November from UN to UNMIK, at 4–5.Google Scholar

89 Zaum, , supra note 85, at 159.Google Scholar

90 Corell, , supra note 88, at 4. On UNMIK as a subsidiary organ of the Security Council see also European Court of Human Rights, Grand Chamber Decision as to the Admissibility of Applications No. 71412/01 and 78166/01 (Agim Behrami and Bekir Behrami v France and Ruzhdi Saramati v France, Germany and Norway, 2 May 2007), at para. 129.Google Scholar

91 Corell, , supra note 88, at 4.Google Scholar

92 Id. at 4.Google Scholar

93 Id. at 158–160.Google Scholar

94 Corell, , supra note 88, at 9.Google Scholar

95 Id. at 9.Google Scholar

96 UNMIK Regulation No. 2001/9, Chapter 1.5.Google Scholar

97 Id. at Chapter 1.5.Google Scholar

98 Id. at Chapter 5.Google Scholar

99 Id. at Chapter 12.Google Scholar

100 Id. at Chapter 9.1, at 45.Google Scholar

101 Id. at Chapter 8.1 (q) and (r).Google Scholar

102 UNMIK Regulation No. 2002/12, Section 1.Google Scholar

103 UNMIK Regulation No. 2001/9, Chapter 11.Google Scholar

104 UNMIK Regulation No. 2002/12, Section 2.1.Google Scholar

105 Id. at Sections 12 and 13.4.Google Scholar

106 Id. at Section 13.3, 24.2 and 24.3.Google Scholar

107 See also Corell, supra note 82, at 3–4 and 7.Google Scholar

108 UNMIK Regulation No. 2002/12, Section 6.1 and 6.2.Google Scholar

109 Id. at Section 3.Google Scholar

111 Id. at Section 8.1.Google Scholar

112 Id. at Section 8.4.Google Scholar

113 Id. at Section 8.6.Google Scholar

114 Id. at Section 9.1.Google Scholar

115 Id. at Section 5.3.Google Scholar

116 Zaum, , supra note 85, at 164.Google Scholar

117 Id. at 164.Google Scholar

118 Knoll, , supra note 52, at 654.Google Scholar

119 Zaum, , supra note 85, at 163–164; Knoll, supra note 52, at 655.Google Scholar

120 UNMIK Regulation No. 2005/18.Google Scholar

121 Id. at Section 5.1(a).Google Scholar

122 Id. at Section 5.3.Google Scholar

123 Id. at Section 5.4.Google Scholar

124 UNMIK Regulation No. 2008/27, Section 5.3 (b).Google Scholar

125 Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Kosovo Trust Agency Related Matters, Judgment No. SCC-06-0100 of 20 November 2007; see also OSCE, supra note 2, at 26.Google Scholar

126 Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Kosovo Trust Agency Related Matters, Judgment No. SCC-06-0100 of 20 November 2007, and Judgment No. ASC-10-0021 of 31 October 2011.Google Scholar

127 Corell, , supra note 88, at 9.Google Scholar

128 UNMIK Regulation No. 2002/13.Google Scholar

129 Corell, , supra note 88, at 9.Google Scholar

130 UNMIK Regulation No. 2002/13, at Section 3.1.Google Scholar

131 Id. at Section 4.Google Scholar

132 Id. at Section 4.2 and 4.3.Google Scholar

133 Id. at Section 10.3.Google Scholar

134 Id. at Section 10.5.Google Scholar

135 Supra note 122 and 123.Google Scholar

136 OSCE, supra note 2, at 37.Google Scholar

137 UNMIK Regulation No. 2008/4.Google Scholar

138 Id. at Section 3.1.Google Scholar

139 Id. at Section 3.2.Google Scholar

140 Id. at Section 3.3.Google Scholar

141 Id. at Section 4.4.Google Scholar

142 Id. at Section 3.3 (b).Google Scholar

143 Id. at Section 10.3.Google Scholar

144 Id. at Section 10.5.Google Scholar

145 Knudsen, , supra note 41, at 58.Google Scholar

146 OSCE, supra note 2, a1t 38.Google Scholar

147 Chittharanjan Felix Amerasinghe, Principles of the Institutional Law of International Organizations 141–142 (2005).Google Scholar

148 Id. at 141.Google Scholar

149 Id. at 142.Google Scholar

150 ICJ Advisory Opinion, Effects of Awards of Compensation made by the United Nations Administrative Tribunal of 13 July 1954, at 61.Google Scholar

151 Corell, , supra note 88, at 4.Google Scholar

152 Medjad, , supra note 3, at 310.Google Scholar

153 UNMIK Regulation No. 2003/13, Section 2.1, as amended by UNMIK Regulation No. 2004/45.Google Scholar

154 UNMIK Regulation No. 2003/13, Section 8.Google Scholar

155 Id. at Section 2.1.Google Scholar

156 Id. at Section 2.2.Google Scholar

157 Id. at Sections 5 and 9.Google Scholar

158 Zaum, , supra note 85, at 162.Google Scholar

159 Knudsen, , supra note 41, at 74.Google Scholar

160 UNMIK Regulation No. 2003/13, Section 10, as amended by UNMIK Regulation No. 2004/45.Google Scholar

161 UNMIK Regulation No. 2003/13, Section 10.4.Google Scholar

162 Id. at Section 10.2.Google Scholar

163 Id. at Section 10.2.Google Scholar

164 Knudsen, , supra note 41, at 83.Google Scholar

165 Zaum, , supra note 85, at 162.Google Scholar

166 Knudsen, , supra note 41, at 85; Zaum, supra note 85, at 163.Google Scholar

167 United Nations Secretary-General Press Release (SG/A/955) of 15.11.2005, available at: http://www.un.org (last accessed: 25 May 2013)Google Scholar

168 Letter dated 26 March 2007 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2007/168/Add.1) (hereinafter the “Settlement Proposal”).Google Scholar

169 Proposal, Settlement, supra note 165, at Annex VII.Google Scholar

170 Id. at Annex VII, Article 1.Google Scholar

171 The International Steering Group was supposed to include France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union and NATO; see Settlement Proposal, Annex IX, Art. 4.1.Google Scholar

172 Settlement Proposal, supra note 165, at Annex VII, Article 2.2.Google Scholar

173 Id. at Article 2.Google Scholar

174 Id. at Article 2.Google Scholar

175 Id. at Article 3.1.Google Scholar

176 Id. at Art. 3.2.Google Scholar

177 Id. at Art. 3.3.Google Scholar

178 See International Court of Justice, Advisory Opinion on the Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo of 22 July 2010, Para. 109.Google Scholar

179 Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo of 15 June 2008 (hereinafter the “Constitution”), available at: http://gazetazyrtare.rks-gov.net/Documents/Constitution%20of%20the.Republic%20of%20Kosovo.pdf.Google Scholar

180 Report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo of 28 March 2008 (S/2008/211), at para. 4.Google Scholar

181 Settlement Proposal, supra note 165, at Annex IX, Article 15.Google Scholar

182 Constitution, Art. 143.1 and Art. 143.2.Google Scholar

183 Id., Art. 146Google Scholar

184 Id., Art. 147.Google Scholar

185 Id., Art. 160.Google Scholar

186 Id., Art. 159.1.Google Scholar

187 Id., Art. 145.2.Google Scholar

188 Id., Art. 159.2.Google Scholar

189 Law No. 04/L-034 on the Privatization Agency of Kosovo (hereinafter the “PAK Law”), available at: http://gazetazyrtare.rksgov.net/Documents/Ligji%20per%20Agjencine%20Kosovare%20te%20Privatizimit%20(anglisht).pdf.Google Scholar

190 Law No. 04/L-034 on the Privatization Agency of Kosovo, Article 1.Google Scholar

191 Id., Article 12.Google Scholar

192 Id., Article 20.Google Scholar

193 Id., Article 2.1.Google Scholar

194 Law No. 03/L-087 on Publicly-Owned Enterprises, Article 3, available at: http://gazetazyrtare.rksgov.net/Documents/T-Ligji%20per%20nderrmarrjet%20publike-anglisht.pdf.Google Scholar

195 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo of 12 June 2008 (S/2008/354), at para. 4.Google Scholar

196 Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo, Judgment in Case No. KI 25/10 of 31 March 2011, at para. 20.Google Scholar

197 Id. at para. 21.Google Scholar

198 Id. at para 21.Google Scholar

199 Id. at para. 23.Google Scholar

200 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, dated 24 November 2008 (S/2008/692), at para. 20.Google Scholar

202 Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Kosovo Trust Agency Related Matters, Decision No. ASC-09-0089 of 4 February 2010, at III.Google Scholar

204 Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Kosovo Trust Agency Related Matters, Decision No. ASC-10-0042 of 26 August 2010, at V.Google Scholar

207 Id. at VI.Google Scholar

208 Article 31 of the Constitution is the equivalent of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.Google Scholar

209 Although Kosovo is not a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Convention applies directly in Kosovo and prevails over any other legal acts of the Republic of Kosovo (Article 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo).Google Scholar

210 Case KI 25/10 of 31 March 2011, at para. 53.Google Scholar

211 Id. at para. 60.Google Scholar

212 Settlement Proposal, supra note 165, at Annex I, Art. 6.4; Constitution, Art. 104.1.Google Scholar

213 Settlement Proposal, supra note 165, at Annex IX, Article 2.2.Google Scholar

214 Id. at Annex IX, 2.3.Google Scholar

217 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (S/2008/354) (12 June 2008), at para. 8; reiterated in Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (S/2011/675) (31 October 2011), at para. 2; see also Statement by the President of the Security Council of 26 November 2008 (S/PRST/2008/44).Google Scholar

218 Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP of 4 February 2008.Google Scholar

219 Council joint Action 2009/445/CFSP of 9 June 2009; Council Decision 2010/619/CFSP of 15 October 2010.Google Scholar

220 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo dated 31 October 2011 (S/2011/675), at Para. 11; Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo, Judgment in Case No. KI 25/10 of 31 March 2011, Para. (…).Google Scholar

221 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo dated 17 March 2009 (S/2009/149), at Para. 13.Google Scholar

222 Law No. 04/L-033 on the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Privatization Agency Related Matters.Google Scholar

223 Id. at Articles 1.1 and 1.3.Google Scholar

224 Id. at Article 3.1.Google Scholar

225 Id. at Article 2.1.7.Google Scholar

226 Id. at Article 3.3.Google Scholar

227 Muharremi, Robert, The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) from the Perspective of Kosovo Constitutional Law, 70 H'berg J. of Int'l L. 377 (2010).Google Scholar

228 Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo dated 31 January 2012 (S/2012/72), at Para. 31.Google Scholar

229 Communiqué of the Sixteenth and final meeting of the International Steering Group for Kosovo (10 September 2012), available at: http://www.ico-kos.org/f/pdf/COMMUNIQUE16thISG-Eng.pdf (27 June 2013).Google Scholar

231 Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo, Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo Regarding the Ending of International Supervision of Independence of Kosovo of 7 September 2012, available at: http://gazetazyrtare.rks-gov.net/KK.aspx (last accessed: 27 June 2013)Google Scholar

232 Law No. 04/L-115 on Amending and Supplementing the Laws Related to the Ending of International Supervision of Independence of Kosovo.Google Scholar

233 Law No. 04/L-148 on the Ratification of the International Agreement between the Republic of Kosovo and the European Union on the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.Google Scholar

234 Law No. 04/L-115 on Amending and Supplementing the Laws Related to the Ending of International Supervision of Independence of Kosovo, Article 4.Google Scholar

235 Law No. 04/L-115 on Amending and Supplementing the Laws Related to the Ending of International Supervision of Independence of Kosovo, Article 6.Google Scholar

236 Law No. 04/L-148 on the Ratification of the International Agreement between the Republic of Kosovo and the European Union on the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.Google Scholar

237 Council Decision 2012/291/CFSP of 5 June 2012.Google Scholar

238 Law No. 04/L-148 on the Ratification of the International Agreement between the Republic of Kosovo and the European Union on the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.Google Scholar

239 Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP of 4 February 2008.Google Scholar

240 Id. at preamble, para. 1.Google Scholar

241 Id. at para. 2.,Google Scholar

242 European Court of Auditors, “The European Union Assistance to Kosovo Related to Rule of Law”, Special Report No. 18 para. 92 (2012).Google Scholar

243 Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on Privatization Agency Related Matters, Cases SCC-08-0227 and SCC-08-0226 dated 27 December 2012, both available at: http://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/en/judgments/CV-Special-Chamber-KTA.php. (last accessed: 27 June 2013); InfoGlobi News Agency, Property Claim against Monastery Rejected (2012), available at: http://eng.infoglobi.com/index.php/kosovo/art/property-claim-against-monastery-rejected (last accessed: 27 June 2013).Google Scholar