Kosovo PM: Army will be created by amending constitution

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Kosovo’s prime minister has confirmed that the government will try to transform the nation’s security forces into a regular army through constitutional changes to satisfy the country’s international partners.

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said during a visit to Kosovo Security Force headquarters on Thursday that “we should give the constitutional mandate” to the future army.

Haradinaj has been prime minister since September.

President Hashim Thaci bowed to pressure from NATO and the U.S. earlier this year and withdrew legislation aimed at accomplishing the transformation.

The draft law needed only a majority vote in parliament to pass. constitutional amendments would require backing from lawmakers representing Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs and other minority groups. They say they won’t back the change.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, which Serbia refuses to recognize.