Serbia split for Haradinaj as prime minister

The main Serbian party's decision in Kosovo to support the election of a new parliament speaker, which would most likely lead to former guerrilla leader Ramush Haradinaj's election of Kosovo prime minister has shocked some in Serbia.

The Serbian List's decision to support Kadri Veselin's election from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, The PDK, as the new speaker of parliament on Thursday, has drawn sharp reactions in Serbia, because the right-wing accused him and Belgrade of being handed over to a war criminal.

Wessel's election as parliament speaker will allow party ally by coalition PAN, former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla leader Ramush Haradinaj, to form the government.

In Serbia, the Free Citizens' Movement said it was ironic that a party so closely associated with Belgrade had paved the way for Haradinaj to become Kosovo's new leader.

She recalled the time when President Aleksandar Vuciq was prime minister, when he and the director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, “called Haradinaj a killer, a gangster and a rapist who killed children”.

“Today Vuciqi's ruling Serbian Progressive Party in the form of the Serbian List will enter the government of the same Haradinaj”, she added.

Serbian authorities accuse Haradinaj of killing, raping and torturing Serb civilians during the bloody war of Kosovo's independence from Serbia in the late 1990s. He denies committing these crimes.

Serbia has long called for Haradinaj's arrest based on an international warrant. After French authorities banned him, then decided not to extradite the former Kosovo mayor to Belgrade on April 27th, Vucic condemned the decision.

France's decision was the shameful, scandalous, illegal and, above all, political” said Vuciq.

Despite that, the pro-Belgrade party in Kosovo-Serbian List with its nine MPs voted Thursday for Haradinaj's ally, Veselin, for him to become speaker of the Kosovo Parliament.

Wessel's election occurred one day after leaders of the new coalition government PAN HINA Wessel The AAK's PDK, Haradinaj, Fatmir Limaj of the Initiative and Behgjet Pacolli of AKR reached an agreement with the Serbian List for a close majority in the 120-seat Assembly.

The parties have been trying to establish a government since the release of the general election outcome in June.

Later Saturday, according to media reports, the Serbian List agreed with the PAN to take a third ministerial post -- the Ministry of Agriculture, which was previously assigned to Pacolli's AKR.

The Serbian List will also have the Ministry of Administration of Local Power and the Ministry of Communities and Kthim.

The head of the Serbian Parliament's Kosovo Committee, Milorad Drescu, insisted on Thursday that Serb List participation in Kosovo's new government did not imply that it supports Haradinaj, calling the decision of the Serbian List “a good move”.

However, right-wing nationalists in Serbia are not impressed. The rightist party “Dveri” accused the Serbian List and Vucicin that they have effectively accepted Kosovo as an independent state.

“Vucciq, who recently took full responsibility for the negotiations on Kosovo's status, has given war criminal Ramush Haradinaj the opportunity to create a quasi-government and a quota-state of Kosovo,”, Dveri said on Thursday.

Serbia has vowed never to recognise Kosovo's independence.

Serbian Liberals have provided a more shades of reaction. Liberal Democratic Party leader Cedomir Jovanovic said Serbs in Kosovo should be part of any ruling coalition there.

He also stressed that Haradinaj is viewed internationally as a figure willing to reach a stable agreement between Serbia and Kosovo.

In a more funny comment, the Serbian satirical newsNet (NuzNet) website published on Thursday “news”, saying Serbia had decided to sever diplomatic relations with itself regarding Kosovo Serbs' decision to support Haradinaj.

This ironic reference was to the Serbian government's decision to withdraw its ambassador from France after French courts refused to extradite Haradinaj to Belgrade. /Cashho. com