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This article analyses the constitutional complaint in Kosovo through the lens of governmental liability and constitutional certainty. Although it is one of the most significant legal mechanisms for the protection of human rights in Kosovo, the remedial impact of a constitutional complaint does not appear to be appropriate for granting 'just satisfaction' and holding a public authority accountable for a violation of constitutional rights. To make the state's constitutional liability for human rights violations a reality, additional legislative reforms are necessary. The introduction of 'constitutional damage' award in the context of the Kosovan constitutional judiciary is therefore especially pertinent to this end. Such a remedy would hold the state accountable for abuses of human rights originating from the unconstitutional behavior of government officials. It would finally provide victims of constitutional rights violations with appropriate means of legal redress, which is the ultimate end of constitutional justice. The constitutional principle of 'legitimate expectation' is also not unimportant in this context. By offering a critical perspective on the Constitutional Court's case-law, this article argues for the significance of adhering to the 'legitimate expectations' principle to ensure equality of the parties in constitutional litigation proceedings and a constant development of constitutional jurisprudence that is vital for the Kosovan democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Kosovo is in the initial period of its European integration process, this article will analyse the extent to which the 2008 Kosovo Constitution is compatible with EU law. Integration in the European Union is one of the key objectives of Kosovo's constitutional preamble and the paper will discuss the prospective constitutional amendments that will occur in Kosovo in anticipation of accession to the European Union. The author's position is that a great part of constitutional non-compliance with EU law can be solved through constitutional interpretation (eg the partial transfer of sovereignty), while other issues will require parliamentary intervention through constitutional amendments, a process which does not always run without difficulty in Kosovo's democracy. In this paper, it is argued that the Kosovo Constitution will require a small package of constitutional amendments during the pre-accession process. Constitutional amendments will be required to ensure the precedence of EU law, but also to ensure that the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in municipal elections by citizens of the EU is guaranteed. Further, the article analyses the kind of impact the EU integration process will have on other specific constitutional issues in Kosovo, such as freedom of movement and the surrender of nationals to other Member States, and what constitutional choices there are to avoid any contradiction between the Constitution and EU law. The study takes into account constitutional adaptations in several Central and Southeast European countries on their path towards EU integration, which can serve as guidelines for the decisionmaking authorities in Kosovo to identify constitutional gaps and flaws in the course of the EU pre-accession process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constitution of Kosovo has established a number of mechanisms for the separation of powers and reciprocal checks and balances among which is the President's authority to return legislation for reconsideration. However, the interaction between the President and the Assembly on matters confronting the legislative veto has unveiled a number of constitutional ambiguities and inconsistencies which rendered involvement of the Constitutional Court necessary to define further the constitutionally contemplated powers of the President for returning legislation for reconsideration. The article analyses the Presidential legislative veto from the prospect of the 2008 Kosovo Constitution. Through constitutional interpretation and practical cases this article seeks to examine more closely the structural and the functional aspect of the Presidential legislative return statements in post-status Kosovo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the relationship between international law and national law in the case of Kosovo, using its constitutional law as a backdrop to the main question of the paper. After introducing the theoretical background to the field in question, the paper argues that the Constitution of Kosovo provides for a monist model of relationship between international law and national law, while recognizing the direct applicability and incorporation of treaties in the domestic legal order, and, to a certain extent, also of customary international law. The paper goes on to explain the relationship in question through reviewing a large portion of literature in the field with a view to enabling the reader to understand the specific provisions of the Constitution of Kosovo on the relationship concerned. The paper also attempts to explain the penetration of international human rights law in the national legal order, including an account of the broad constitutionalization of international human rights instruments that is apparent in the Kosovo Constitution. Finally, the paper concludes that the Constitution of Kosovo builds a ‘happy’ relationship between international law and national law, thus following a modern approach toward the relationship between the two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]