4 December 2016 – The Brussels agreement on normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, signed in April 2013, brought unprecedented changes to the four northern municipalities of Kosovo. The Serbian administration was to be dissolved, replaced by a Kosovar one. Local elections were held throughout Kosovo, including in the North, in 2013; the police fully integrated into Kosovo; customs were established; and integration of the courts into the Kosovo judicial system is under way. Yet much remains the same. Serbs remain reliant on the Serbian institutions that continue to operate uninterruptedly. Citizens receive services from Belgrade-funded companies. Regional and local companies, under authority of the Belgrade government or the municipal governments in the north it funds, refuse to integrate within Kosovo law, do not cooperate with Kosovo-elected municipalities or attempt to improve services. The companies operate in poor conditions, lack management, are subject to political obstacles, fail to collect bills and make no efforts to improve. They are there to survive and, as long as they are not required to pay, citizens do not demand more. Read more: Public companies in the northern Kosovo municipalities: stuck in status quo
