All the “threats” of the Serbian List to leave the institutions of Kosovo

This time, the reason for their “readiness” to leave these institutions is, as they have said, “the terror they are going through” and because official Pristina is not allowing voting in the Serbian parliamentary and presidential elections on April 3.

On March 22, Vucic met in Belgrade with representatives of the Kosovo Serbs, who “not only unanimously asked him to leave the institutions immediately, but also that 435 police officers in the north of the country should lay down their arms and leave.” by the regional police ”.

However, Vucic urged them to “be patient, tolerant and count to ten”.

On March 24, Vucic also stated that the Brussels Agreement no longer exists, due to the suspension of Mitrovica Basic Court President Lilana Stevanovic by the Kosovo Judicial Council.

Stevanovic’s suspension comes after she attended a meeting in Belgrade with President Vucic, which was attended by other representatives of Kosovo Serbs.

What is controversial about holding Serbian elections in Kosovo?

Government of Kosovo, led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, insists that official Belgrade send Pristina a request for elections to be held in Serb-majority areas in Kosovo, which Serbia has described as pressure for recognition.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Kurti, says that he never intended to secure the recognition of Kosovo by Serbia through the request for permission to hold Serbian elections, but that no one can ask him not to respect sovereignty. of his country.

In a press conference on March 23, after the meeting of the Government, Kurti said that the Serbian elections in Kosovo are not forbidden, but that no agreement has been reached between the parties.

The Quint states have expressed “great disappointment” with the decision of the Government of Kosovo.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo has called on members of the Serb community not to take part in the protests, which the Deputy Chairman of the Serbian List, Dallibor Jevtic, warned on Friday, March 25.

Serb protest is announced

Jevtic, who is also mayor of Strpce, one of the six Serb-majority municipalities south of the Ibar, said that on Friday (March 25th), Serbs south and north of the Ibar will hold peaceful protests with the message “no one in the 21st century denies fundamental human rights”.

On the other hand, Vucic said that the withdrawal of Serbs from Kosovo institutions would lead to a “vicious circle of endless war conflicts”.

“Some people (Serb representatives) said that they are ready for conflicts, some for leaving (from Kosovo). “I was asked to stay in Kosovo and protect our homes,” Vucic said.

“Exit from institutions” at least once a year
This is not the first time that the Serbian List announces its withdrawal from Kosovo institutions.

The last time such a thing was announced by the chairman of the Serbian List, Goran Rakic, a day before the local elections in Kosovo, which were held on October 17 last year.

At the press conference, Rakic ​​said that the Serbs of northern Kosovo will leave the institutions of all levels, if within a month the talks on the formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities do not begin.

“So, in the north, there will be no people in the institutions of Pristina,” said Rakic.

The association should unite the ten Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, as a result of the Brussels agreement in the framework of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

This agreement was reached in 2013 and the principles for it were adopted in 2015, but it has never been implemented on the ground, because Kosovo believes that it will jeopardize the functionality of the country.

In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo determined that some of the principles of the Association Agreement are not in line with the Constitution of Kosovo, but that they can be harmonized with the statute.

Due to the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, Serb political representatives announced their withdrawal from Kosovo institutions in October 2020, when the director of the Serbian Government’s Kosovo Office, Petar Petkovi,, said that Serbia would consider a such procedure.

Following Petkovic’s statement, Goran Rakic ​​also stated that Serb political representatives in Kosovo would consider leaving the institutions. Rakic ​​was then deputy prime minister in the government led by Abdullah Hoti.

In December 2019, the leader of the Serbian List, Goran Rakic, stated that he would leave the institutions of Kosovo if MP Ivan Todosijevic is given a final court decision, due to the denial of the crime in Recak.

Todosijevic, a former member of the Kosovo Assembly, was sentenced to two years in prison for inciting “national hatred”, but earlier this year the trial was reversed.

Todosijevic is currently the chairman of the Belgrade-funded interim body Zvecan, which authorities in Pristina consider a parallel and illegal institution.

At the end of May 2019, there were also warnings about the withdrawal of Serbs from Kosovo institutions. The then director of the Office for Kosovo of the Government of Serbia, Marko Djuric, stated that in the meeting of Kosovo Serbs and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, conclusions were reached, one of which has to do with leaving Kosovo institutions.

“All political representatives of the Serbian people in the territory of Kosovo, in any country and at any time, must be ready to fight with all forces for the interests of their people and if the political circumstances require it, to leave their positions. “, It is said in the document with conclusions.

Earlier, in February 2019, the President of Serbia, Vucic, said that Kosovo Serbs asked him to withdraw from Kosovo institutions, but he “asked them to wait 45 days”.

At the end of March 2018, Serbs from Kosovo announced from Belgrade that they would leave Kosovo institutions and that they would form the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. This was also the first time that Kosovo Serbs threatened to leave the institutions and this was done after the arrest of the former director of the Office for Kosovo of the Government of Serbia, Marko Djuric.

Despite all these warnings, there has never been an exit from Kosovo institutions, but the mayors who were from the ranks of the Serbian List resigned in November 2018, due to the imposition by the Government of Kosovo of a tax of 100 for percent for goods from Serbia.

Meanwhile, on January 16 this year, the leader of the Serbian List, Goran Rakic, said that there will be no more elections in Kosovo in the north, if Pristina does not allow the holding of Serbian parliamentary and presidential elections, on April 3.

Kosovo did not allow the opening of polling stations in the Serbian referendum to amend the Constitution in the field of justice.

As it was announced at the time, Serbs from Kosovo could vote by post or at the Belgrade Liaison Office in Pristina, but they still exercised their right in one of Serbia’s border towns.

According to previous announcements by Serbian President Vucic, Serbs from Kosovo will vote in the same way on April 3.

Muhaxhiri: Serbs will leave the institutions when Vucic asks them to.

Political analyst from Pristina, Artan Muhaxhiri, believes that the Serbian List never makes decisions as independent, that it lacks autonomy and subjectivity even though it has “constitutional power in the creation of the Government of Kosovo.”

“As such, it is not able to make important decisions. “It is part of a specific network of conditions and mutual pressures in the triangle between Kosovo, Serbia and the international community,” Muhaxhiri told Radio Free Europe.

He considers that Serbs will leave Kosovo institutions only when Aleksandar Vucic asks them to do so, which at the moment, as Muhaxhiri says, is not in his interest.

He does not rule out the possibility of destabilization in Kosovo, but, according to him, it depends exclusively on the interests of Serbian President Vucic, because “only he has the power to create a tense situation with direct instructions.”

“Because of the situation in Ukraine, it is not the right time to do that. “Serbian representatives can freeze their functions in protest, but this would also be a short-term option,” said Muhaxhiri.

Radakovic: Cooperation with Kosovo Serbs has never been worse

Dusan Radakovic, director of the non-governmental organization Center for Advocacy for Democratic Culture in North Mitrovica, said relations between Serbs and the Kosovo government have never been worse, adding that the situation is “increasingly serious”.

Radakovic says that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Kurti, is only removing Kosovo institutions from the Serbs, but still considers “reckless” the request of the Serbian List to withdraw from them.

He also emphasizes that with such developments, Kosovo and Serbia are only moving away from the negotiating table, as well as from the dialogue for the normalization of relations between the two parties.

“Some agreements were before the signing, first of all I think about electricity in the north, about Vallaç, etc. This is not just one step back, but five steps back. “As I said, the decisions of the Government of Kosovo destabilize the situation that has never been worse between the Serb community and the Government of Kosovo,” Radakovic concluded.

He also considers that Serbian elections should not be banned in Kosovo, because this “represents a violation of human rights”.

The last parliamentary elections, which Serbia organized in Serb-populated areas in Kosovo, were held on June 21, 2020.

At that time, according to established practice, the mission in Kosovo of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) had collected the ballots.

This practice of collecting votes was established in 2017 and until now there has been permission from the Kosovo authorities for such a thing.REL

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