EU finally urges Serbia's clarification of Kosovo officials' ban

The latest case was marked on May 11th of this year, when Serbia's authorities, at the Eheu White border crossing, have banned members of the Independent Liberal Party, Srecko Spasac and Srdjan Jovanovic. He is Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj's adviser.

The ban on Kosovo institutions of the Serb community has also reacted to Prime Minister Haradinaj, who has described the act as unacceptable.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Haradinaj's adviser, Halil Matoshi, says about REL that stopping from Serbia's security structures of members of the Serb community, which are part of Kosovo's central institutions, is not only a violation of the Brussels Agreement for free movement, but seriously violates the European spirit of co-operation and the idea of normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

“As such, this act is unprecedented and punishable. On the other hand, the Government of Kosovo, invites official Brussels -- respectively, the European Union's instances -- to take this issue seriously, because not only officials of the Republic of Kosovo, of the Serb community -- are being persecuted, but they may also be threatened within Kosovo, as Serbia is stigmatising as traitors of the Serbian issue, respectively, of the Serbian nation”, Matosi says.

From December last year until now, at the Kosovo-Serbia border crossings, Serbian state security structures have banned and interviewed Slobodan Petroviqi, Kosovo Assembly MP Boban Stankovinqi, deputy minister of culture in the Government of Kosovo, as well as Nebojsa Jakovljevic, adviser to the Ministry of Labour and Social Management in the Government of Kosovo. All of these are members of the Independent Liberal Party.

European Union spokeswoman Maja Kocijanciq has told Radio Free Europe that they have accepted <x0 ...reports that Kosovo Government officials have been detained at crossing points”.

The Agreement on Freedom of Movement provides clear guarantees for the unhindered transition to Serbia and vice versa. We are still waiting for clarifications from Belgrade, following our request for more”, Kocijanci said.

The Balkan Policy Group's director, Naim Rashi, stresses that it is surprising the courage of Serbia's authorities to continue with the ban and interview of people at border crossings and, for more, members of the Serb community.

According to him, it sounds incredible that Serbia's institutions go so far that for the purposes and political agenda of people in power in Belgrade, they stop, arrest, persecute and intimidate all people in their community who think differently from them.

This was only in the time of (former Serbian president Slobodan Milsheevicq) Milosevich. Since then, this is new and very frustrating for the Serb population in Serbia and Kosovo, and different campaigns are continuing. This is a political agenda, which has nothing to do with implementing the Free Movement Agreement. This has to do with an agenda of persecution, threatening people who think differently, and to that end, all international factors are silent. But I don't believe the EU will be able to play any particular role”, Rashi points out.

He adds that the whole situation is absurd and shows conviction that, however, at a certain moment, there will be international mobilization and reactions to these developments. But, according to him, for now, this situation reflects the inability of international factors in relation to Serbia.

The “is a new agenda, which requires reconsolidation of the international position, but to which it will not come soon, because the international factor, for 20 years, has been exiled to daily bases. Now the weight of those daily interventions is losing and for the sake of truth, the clean democratic elements that have existed in Serbia are becoming extinct. Therefore, I am convinced that the situation, in future periods, and especially in periods where there will be no agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, will be even more difficult”, Rashi says.

Kosovo Government officials have stressed that only citizens belonging to the Serbian List, political subject, which has established itself official Belgrade and that the “s of all other Serbs, who are a great majority in Kosovo, are stigmatized, persecuted and persecuted”.

But Rashit estimates that most members of the Serbian List disagree with Belgrade's official approach to members of the Serb community who think differently. But, according to him, they have no space to oppose and are too afraid to think otherwise, because they are completely controlled by official Belgrade and act according to its instructions.

On April 26th, members of the Independent Liberal Party, led by their leader, Slobodan Petrovic, in protest of the bans to Serb security structures, have crossed the Kosovo-Serbia border at the Elu White border crossing.