The international community has serious and effective mechanisms to convince the Kosovo authorities to accept the demands of the EU and the US regarding the de-escalation of the situation in the north of Kosovo, it was concluded at the debate „Situation in the north of Kosovo after the local elections – challenges and solutions“, organized by the Media Center in Caglavica/Cagllavice .
Serbian President Aleksandrar Vučić is to be blamed for the current situation and crisis in the north of Kosovo, said Nenad Radosavljević, leader of the civil initiative „Narodna Pravda“, at the debate „Situation in the north of Kosovo after the local elections – challenges and solutions“. He added that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kuri helped Vučić in raising tensions and creating a crisis.
„The problem was created by the regime from Belgrade, i.e. Aleksadr Vučić, who, through his criminal structures that manage Srpska list, decided that the Serbs should not go to the elections and that they should not come out, which they did the same way they went and voted at any cost and only for Srpska lista, so now they were forced not to participate in the elections. That is the beginning of all problems. Of course, this problem was compounded by Kurti, who very imprudently decided that mayors should be established in cabinets at any cost,“ said Radosavljević.
Commenting on the protests in front of the municipal buildings in Leposavić, Zubin Potok and Zvečan, Radosavljević said that „populism in the north of Kosovo has become more popular than realism“.
„First of all, the government structure is protesting there, which is to blame and responsible for everything, and which now at any cost wants to return to their seats and the various benefits provided by the positions to which they have become accustomed, and they are the initiators and the cause of all problems. In addition to them, there are structures formed by those who put up salaries, put up flags for their interest, do nothing but receive salaries and who are now very keen to ensure that their status does not change, i.e. that they do not remain without salaries“, said Radosavljević.
Dejan Nedeljković, a social and political activist from Zvečani, believes that this situation would not have occurred if separate buildings for all four Kosovo municipalities had been built in 2015, when the integration of Serbian institutions into the Kosovo system took place in the north.
„At that time, the leaders of the Serbian List were not really interested in such a thing because they expected that they would spend their whole lives in power and that they would spend their whole lives in that one and the same room. At the end of everything that happened, where a large number of Serbs and KFOR soldiers were injured, everyone saw that it might have been a good idea, because we see that there are no problems in Mitrovica, that the mayor came to the North Mitrovica municipality building, which functions in the Kosovo system, the municipality that functions in the Serbian system functions quite normally, so there is no problem there,“ said Nedeljković.
Milija Biševac, the leader of the civil initiative „Za Zubin Potok“, states that the international community also bears a great deal of responsibility for the current situation in the north.
„The international community should have reacted, it has already reacted now and the situation is a little different, but they should have reacted long before that, so that this escalation does not happen,“ Biševac said.
The participants of the debate also agree that the international community has effective mechanisms to force the Kosovo authorities to fulfill the recommendations of the USA and the European Union regarding the de-escalation of the current crisis in the north of Kosovo.
„Visa liberalization can be delayed, it is a measure, it is a very rational measure. The Council of Europe can also be a measure. I say, there are many mechanisms, they know what they are. The only question is whether they want to use them,“ said Radosavljević.
„The international community, primarily the European Union, has a fantastic mechanism, namely the pre-accession funds, which are the first measure that should essentially be applied to irresponsible politicians, not to the people, to irresponsible politicians.“ If that does not produce results, there are of course other measures, and it is not necessary to elaborate absolutely every one of them today, but there are certainly as many mechanisms as you want,“ said Miodrag Milićević.
„One of the first measures is financial, that is, financial sanctions can absolutely affect the functioning of the Government itself. The only question here is whether there is their desire,“ said Milija Biševac.
„The first step that needs to be taken is to cancel those pre-accession funds allocated by the European Union.“ That should be the first step towards the government in Pristina,“ said Dejan Nedeljković.
The situation in three municipalities in the north of Kosovo, where Serb protests have been going on for 12 days, is currently peaceful, but uncertain and non-functional for life, the panelists assessed.
„People are scared because they don’t know what to do next.“ Children don’t go to school, we also have a system, so to speak, a temporary body that functioned until recently. There are many people who are employed there, their existence is literally there, starting with the basic living conditions, which is that the health cards were verified in those temporary authorities, one of the conditions when you need to go to the doctor. There is also an Employment Office where people applied, had some insurance. Today there is no such thing, we have one building where the special forces are sitting and we don’t know what to expect,“ said Milija Biševac.
„As far as groceries are concerned, there are fewer of them, because it’s no secret that in most of those stores in the north, the goods that arrive via alternative routes, and not as they should,“ said Nedeljković.
The debate on the topic „The situation in the north of Kosovo after the local elections – challenges and solutions“ was organized by the Media Center in Cagllavice/Čaglavica with the support of UNMIK.
