Shaip Kamberi: I will not stop, I will be the voice of Albanians in Serbian parliament

So said in an interview for Radio Free Europe, Shaip Kamberi, representative of the “Coalation of the Albanians of the Valley”, the list that won a mandate in the Serbian Assembly after several times the elections were repeated in the Great Ternocin, south of Serbia.

The Republican Election Commission confirmed the final results of the Serbian parliamentary elections that were held on 3 April and also confirmed that this list of Albanians has won a mandate in the Assembly.

With that, Serbia's Assembly won another opposition vote -- the only one that can speak directly on behalf of the Albanian national minority.

But it took three months for Albanians to win a mandate. The elections in Tarnoc, the village in the Bujanoc municipality, were repeated four times and only on the fifth time, June 30th, the vote ended without a complaint.

The epilogue at the end was 698 votes for the Camber list by 725 voters. Kamberi's list won the mandate instead of the Socialist Party of Serbia, a multi-year partner of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Because of this single mandate, the vote was repeated several times.

Priorities, Economic Development

Kamberi, who has been a deputy even in the past parliamentary legislature, said that during the past term, the position of Albanians living in southern Serbia has not been significantly improved, so it will not change the priorities of his activities in the Assembly.

According to him, the priorities of Albanians living in southern Serbia are defined at “Sevenpoint Plan”, a document that Albanian representatives have sent to the Serbian government nearly a decade ago.

The integration of Albanians into state and public institutions is primarily “These are the problems and issues that exist in education, especially the issue of recognition of diplomas and, of course, the economic development of this region”, Kamberi said.

Among other priorities Kamberi cited economic development in southern Serbia.

An estimated 60,000 Albanians live in Serbia mainly in three municipalities south of the state: Touches, Medvedja and Bujanoc.

These three municipalities are among the most underdeveloped municipalities in Serbia. There is no precise data on the number of unemployed people, but Presevo Mayor Ardita Sinani declared that unemployment in her municipality was about 70 percent in May 2021.

Because of the lack of jobs, many young people -- Albanians and Roma -- are leaving here, so the economic development of this part will be one of our priorities and should be the priority of the new government”, Kamberi said.

Correcting factor

Naim Leo Beshiri of the nongovernmental Institute for European Affairs told Radio Free Europe that he does not expect any different dynamics in the Parliament's work after receiving the MP's mandate from “The coalition of the Albanians of the Valley”.

The Serb representative has also been in the opposition in the past legislature, and thus is expected to be in this legislature”, Beshiri said.

In the past legislature, Shaip Kamberi was chairman of the U.S. Valley Parliamentary Group . SDA Sandzak.

During a year and a half of that legislature's mandate, Kamberi was one of the few critical voices in the Assembly, as the majority of the opposition boycotted the elections that were held in June 2020.

Kamberi accused the government led by the Serbian Progressive Party for Autocracy and totalitarianism, and said that “xenophobia is prospering” and that threats are being made against non-combat communities.

The Assembly is where it is best to hear the voice of non-US communities, Beshiri said, but stressed that the Albanian representative in the Serbian Parliament will face restrictions.

“has so far proved to be a good corrective factor. Camber's speeches in the Assembly have been noted several times, but if he acts as an independent MP, according to the Parliament's regulation, he will have very little time to present his arguments”, Beshiri said.

Congratulations From the Region

Since June 30th, Kamberi and “The coalition of Albanians in the Valley” have received numerous congratulations from the country and the region. Among the people who have congratulated Camber was Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, as well as Ermina Lekaj Perlaskaj, Albanian deputy in the Croatia Assembly.

Serbia's “We have the only Albanian MP to be the voice of Albanians. Even though we know that it is difficult to realize Albanian rights, however, Shaip's voice will be a window for the EU, which will show that Serbia violates the basic rights of Albanians”, it has written on Facebook.

Kamberi said that in the exhausting struggle to win the MP's mandate in Serbia's Parliament, they certainly would not succeed without friends and officials who have supported the candidacy and the need for Albanians to fight for the MP's mandate.

“As far as supporting officials from Kosovo and Albania, I think it is a good signal because the fact is that they demand that we integrate into this society, which contributes to the stability the entire Balkans is trying for, said Kamberi.

With whom can the representative of Albanians cooperate?

The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), led by Serbia's current president, Aleksandar Vuciq, in the new parliamentary legislation will have 120 deputies and alone cannot form the parliamentary majority.

Serbia's United Opposition led by Dragan Djilas's Party of Freedom and Justice has won 38 seats in the new Parliament.

The previous partner of Vuciqi's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) has won 31 mandates.

The left-green coalition, Moramo (We Must) has won 12 seats. There are also some rightist parliamentary parties -- Zavetnici (Swearing) and Dveri -- with ten MPs and coalitions. NADA with 15 deputies.

Among the lists representing non-US communities in the new legislature will also be: The Party of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), with six deputies -- the Justice and Consumption Party by three -- and the SDA Sandzak and the Together for Vojvodina with two deputies.

Kamberi said it is good that in the new legislature there will be more opposition deputies, because it is, at least formally, a mirror of democracy and parliamentarians. He added that he hoped he could raise various issues that would be in common interest with other opposition MPs.

“We will continue co-operation with the Party of Democratic Action [ Sandzak SDA and we will see who we can work with. We certainly can co-operate with all those parties that want common values, that is, primarily with the European Union, and with values representing the EU”, Kamberi said.

Asked by the REL how you see co-operation with democratic opposition parties, which do not recognise Kosovo's independence, such as the Party for Freedom and Justice and the People's Party, Kamberi said co-operation with such parties is impossible.

Our position for Kosovo independence is clear. Kosovo's independence is recognised and that cannot be changed. Any other interpretation is the rejection of reality and voter fraud. For this reason we cannot co-operate with these political options”, Kamberi said.

He stressed that a common commitment to European integrations, without a clear stand for Kosovo's independence, is not a strong enough argument for eventual co-operation in Serbia's Parliament, and that the Kosovo issue is directly linked to the European integration process.

Our position is clear. The whole process must be accelerated, and European integration should be the main foreign policy goal of the new government. The landing policy on many chairs has only damaged the EU integration process and this should stop”, Kamberi said.

In Serbia's new Parliament legislature, Shaip Kamberi will be in a specific position, unlike the previous mandate when the only opposition deputy, now he will be the only deputy in the Serbian Assembly to recognise Kosovo's independence.

His former parliamentary mandate was characterised with a long speech at the session for the election of the Government, in which he sharply criticised Aleksandar Vucinqi's government and accused him of destroying democracy.

In the new legislature, Kamberi hopes he can initiate a series of important topics for the Albanian community, but also for all citizens of Serbia. One of those initiatives he said would be the signing of the final agreement with Kosovo.

A Divided Opposition

Naim Leo Beshiri ruled out the possibility that the deputy of the “Coalition of the Albanians of the Valley” co-operate with the deputies of the rightist parties, such as those of the Vojvodina Hungarians Party.

The party of Vojvodina Hungarians is quite close to the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and so far has always been in the ruling majority or has supported the government in the Assembly. So even with this party it won't be able to co-operate much”, Beshiri stressed.

When talking about larger opposition coalitions, such as the United Opposition of Serbia and Moramo, Beshiri said there are some friction within these blocs, so now it is not easy to talk about their co-operation with other parliamentary groups.

The “It is clear that the opposition is very fragmented and that even though it will bring a significantly greater dynamic in parliamentary discussions, it will be difficult to reconcile for joint actions, so we may have a turbulent parliamentary period”, Beshiri praised.

Albanian community's numerous problems in Serbia

Representatives of Albanians in Serbia for years have raised their voices for the problems facing the Albanian community. At the beginning of June, in the United States, lobbies began establishing the issue of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanoc ʹ, also known as Presevo Valley where the majority of the Albanian population lives.

As he had explained to that world REL chairman of the National Council of Albanians Ragmi Mustafi, their proposal is to establish unified <x0ndanddardes for dealing with national minorities” in parallel with normalisation of reports between Pristina and Belgrade.

Also, in 2013, Albanian representatives from three municipalities in southern Serbia had handed over to the Serbian government “The Sevenpoint Plan”, in which the problems of the Albanian community in southern Serbia were presented and their proposals for resolving these problems.

This plan also proposes the full integration of Albanians into state institutions in line with proportional participation in the population of any local self-government, the displacement of special police forces, and the establishment of proper conditions for the return of the displaced population.

The plan also proposes rapid economic recovery in municipalities in the Presevo Valley, as well as decentralisation of the judiciary system.

The document also highlights problems for recognising diplomas issued in Kosovo and the problem of missing textbooks.

So far, only the last issue has been resolved. At the end of 2021, representatives of the Ministry of Education of Serbia and the National Council of Albanians reached an agreement on textbooks in the mother tongue for students of the Albanian community.