Nikolic: Snap elections in Kosovo and Metohija testify to collapse of provisional institutions

Photo: Mateja Beljan

The chair of the Serbian National Assembly's Committee on Kosovo and Metohija, Danijela Nikolic, said today that yet another snap election for the assembly of provisional Pristina institutions, scheduled for June 7, shows Pristina's inability to achieve anything without the international community, and testifies to the collapse of the provisional institutions.

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Nikolic stressed that the outgoing prime minister of the provisional institutions, Albin Kurti, will focus on anti-Serb politics in the campaign, just as he had done before.

"For the first time in recent political history, they (Pristina) had a chance to do something on their own, without someone from the international community sitting in the gallery, saying, 'this will be your president, this will be your prime minister' - and we saw what thst looks like, when they try to do something on their own. A total collapse of institutions," Nikolic told Tanjug.

When asked what will be the focus of Kurti's election campaign, she said that he will play the anti-Serb card instead of addressing the standard of living, given that a year and a half ago, when the regular elections were held, he promised Pristina's membership in the Council of Europe, a better standard of living, more investments, and what happened is that 400,000 ethnic Albanians have left Kosovo and Metohija in search of a better life.

She noted that the standard of living of Albanians in Kosovo is the lowest in Europe, bearing in mind that the unemployment rate is at 25 percent.

"He (Kurti) always has some megalomaniac promises, let's recall that ahead of last February he promised he would fight for the (membership of) so-called Kosovo to be on the agenda of the Council of Europe, and we saw that Serbia stopped this by diplomatic means. Now, (Pristina's) membership in NATO is talked about, Kurti is arming and that is now another promise that he wants to offer to his voters," said Nikolic.

Referring to the fact that US Congressman Keith Self, a Republican, and Democrat Michael Lawler presented a resolution in the US Congress proposing Pristina's membership in NATO, Nikolic assessed that this has no political weight at a time when US President Donald Trump does not have a good relationship with NATO, because of the issue of Iran.

Nikolic added that she does not know if that will remain a "dead letter" and noted that Pristina has a fairly strong lobby in the US.

When asked whether Serbia can count on the support from for NATO members - Spain, Slovakia, Greece, and Romania, which do not recognize Kosovo - Nikolic said that she hopes they will remain consistent in their policy of not accepting Pristina's unilateral declaration of independence, and initiatives such as the bid for NATO membership.

"We are always ready and alert when it comes to any proposal coming from any place, our vigilance is at a high level and we have shown that countless times. The issue of Kosovo and Metohija is a first-order issue for our people, for our diplomacy and politics," Nikolic concluded.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)