For elections in Kosovo, Serbia blames West

Prime Minister Anna Brnabyq and the director of the Office for Kosovo in Serbia's Government, Petar Petkov, joined in the criticism.

They charged the European Union and the United States of America that, despite opposition from the Serb community, they supported the elections, according to them, anti-democratic and non-legime.

The extraordinary local elections were held on April 23rd in four Serb majority municipalities in northern Kosovo: Northern Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Leposaviq.

The Serbian list, the largest Serb party in Kosovo, which has official Belgrade support, did not participate in the elections and called on Serbs to boycott the process.

The argument was that its conditions for returning to Kosovo institutions have not been met, from which it withdrew in autumn 2022: forming the Association of Serb majority municipalities and attracting Kosovo special units from municipalities to the north.

As a result of this boycott, voter turnout was below 4%.

The West said the elections were held in line with the Kosovo legal framework and expressed regret that all parties and communities did not participate.

To messages sent by Belgrade, the international community was largely silent.

From the EU, they told the REL that they did not comment on all remarks made by different officials from third-nation”.

All issues related to normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia are discussed on the proper platform, which is dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, with EU mediation”, the statement said.

The US Embassy in Belgrade did not respond to REL's request to comment on the criticism of Serbian officials.

O SB: At Kosovo Central Election Commission, Even a Serbian List member

Brnabyq and Petkovic criticised the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSBE) for “allowing elections to be held in containers provided by Kosovo Police”.

In a statement given REL, the OSCE said that “has not monitored the elections in Kosovo and has no role in facilitating elections in Kosovo since 2020”.

“Since November 2020, Central Election Commission holds elections without operational support of the O Mission The SEU in Kosovo has shown that it has technical capacity to do so”, the OSCE said.

Even though he called for boycotting the elections, according to OSCE information, the Serbian List participated in their organisation.

The CEC's “decisions concerning this election have been taken with the participation of all representatives of political parties, including Serbian List nominated member”, the organisation said.

She, too, thought that O Mission Chief The SEU in Kosovo, Ambassador Michael Davenport, addressed Serbia's Foreign Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic several times, as well as the director of the Office for Kosovo in Serbia's Government, Petar Petkoviq.

In those meetings, not even in any of them before, the Mission was not asked to take any role in this election... Daciq and Petkovovic expressed support for Mission activities in providing assistance to the Kosovo Serb community”, O said The SBE for REL.

Why did the EU and the US not respond to criticism?

Politologist from nongovernmental organisation “third street” in Belgrade, Dimitrije Milliq, says about REL that Western officials “know how to distinguish between what is rhetoric for the local electorate and the concrete movements that actually happen”.

I believe those messages that were heard from Belgrade are primarily aimed at local electorate, which, according to polls, is increasingly anti-Western and which if you look at the results of research... you consider Western countries to be hypocritical”, Milliq says.

Under the auspices of the European Union and with the support of the United States of America, Kosovo and Serbia reached a verbal agreement on normalising relations in Ohrid in March.

The negotiations, which should result in a legally binding agreement on both sides, continue since 2011.

Milliq believes that the priority for Western countries is normalising Kosovo-Serbia relations and that some <x0 steps are more appreciated than some political messages to the electorate”.

“On the one hand, Serbia implements its foreign policy through what is real, which is a kind of normalisation of relations with Kosovo, which is gradually continuing, while, on the other hand, rhetoric somehow channels them through forms that are closer to ordinary citizens”, Milliq says.

He considers that Western countries are “aware that to achieve progress in relations with Kosovo, in Serbia there must be a government that has enough political capital to spend on non-popular issues”.

How do Vucinqi's voters feel about the West?

Milliq says that resolving disputes with Kosovo, with mediating Western powers, is unpleasant to most of the Serbian public.

“In essence, rhetoric, including that of the president, is mainly related to feelings of electorate”, he says.

Milliq also says that the dominant phrase in majority public opinion in Serbia is that the West is the hypocritical “”.

The definition of the West as hypocritical and without concrete examples is something that weighs on the local electorate as something true”, Milliq says.

How far did negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia reach?

The next round of dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia should be held on 2 May in Brussels.

The topic of that meeting, as warned, will be the formation of the Association of Serb majority municipalities.

One of the provisions of the agreement reached in Ohrid is Kosovo's obligation to start securing the proper level of self-advancing for the Serb community in Kosovo, in line with previous agreements from the dialogue.

Even though it is not explicitly mentioned, this part refers to the Association of Serb majority municipalities, agreed on ten years ago.

Belgrade insists on an association with broad competencies; Pristina believes one would be harmful to the functioning of the state.

Serbian officials established the establishment of association as a precondition for further progress in dialogue with Kosovo.

The Ohrid Agreement envisions no mutual recognition between Kosovo and Serbia, but guarantees equal rights for both countries, respect for territorial integrity and the invisibility of borders, recognition of state symbols and special arrangement for the Serb community in Kosovo.

The agreement also obliges Serbia not to oppose Kosovo's membership in international organisations.

The document does not mention the possibility of mutual recognition or of Kosovo membership in the United Nations for which Kosovo politicians publicly insist.