Serbs Call off Boycott of Kosovo Parliament
Kosovo Serb politicians on Thursday agreed to return to the country’s parliament and government after receiving assurances in discussions that their coalition agreement will be respected.
| Prime Minister Mustafa on Friday named Dalibor Jevtic from the Srpska List as the replacement for Aleksandar Jablanovic, the Minister for Returns and Communities who was removed two months ago.
Jevtic held a top position in the Independent Liberal Party, SLS, the biggest Serb minority party in Kosovo. He also served as Minister for Returns and Communities from March 2013 until Kosovo held early elections last year. In 2013, Jevtic’s SLS became part of the Srpska List, a Belgrade-backed party formed with the goal of boosting turnout in the local elections in November that year. |
“One of the main reasons for the return of the Serbian representatives to the Kosovo assembly and government is an agreement by which there will be no unilateral moves by the coalition partners, especially regarding the privatizations [of companies] in Serbian-majority communities,” representatives of Srpska List, the main Kosovo Serb party, said.
They party said that “particular emphasis” would be placed in future on improving the economic situation in Serb-run communities.
Srpska List said it had also agreed with its coalition partners – the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK – that more attention would be paid to Serb returnees and to increasing their presence in institutions.
It was also agreed that selections of Serbian officials at all levels would be under the sole authority of elected Serbian political representatives.
The Serbian representatives will start actively participating in the government and parliament on Monday, April 27th.
Isa Mustafa, Kosovo’s Prime Minister, held meetings on Friday with representatives of the four Serb-majority municipalities in the North, which include Leposavic, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and North Mitrovica.
Mustafa and local Serbs discussed the issues of local budgets, which were frozen by the government of Kosovo six weeks ago. The mayors agreed to submit budgets in compliance with Kosovo’s laws.
In the last general elections in Kosovo in June 2014, Srpska List, a Belgrade-backed party, won nine seats in parliament and was given two ministries and the post of Deputy Prime Minister.
Its participation in the general elections in June 2014 marked a major step towards the Serbian community’s integration into Kosovo’s political system. The elections saw the highest turnout of Kosovo Serbs since the conflict in the 1990s ended.
However, Srpska List has made no secret of the fact that it continues to take its cue from Belgrade, which has been a sore point for the Kosovo Albanian majority.
The minster angered many Albanians in Kosovo by calling the protesters “savages”. The protesters said they attacked the bus believing some war criminals were on board.
