Andric Rakic: Serbs in Kosovo are under increased pressure due to Kurti's election campaign

Milica Andric Rakic from the New Social Initiative told Euronews Serbia that Serbs in Kosovo are under increased pressure because Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti is in an election campaign.

"As we get closer to election day, February 9, we can truly expect even more problems in the north. The entire Self-Determination Movement campaign will focus physically and in other ways on results in the north, because there are no other results. Kurti's government has no significant infrastructure projects. In a few months, the trade deficit will reach five billion dollars, which was not the case even in the years after the war. Exports cover only 14 percent of imports, meaning the local economy is almost dying. Of course, part of this is the problem with the import of Serbian goods, which affects not only Serbia but also German and American manufacturers with plants in Serbia," Andric Rakic said.

She added that, in the absence of other measures, i.e., policy results, "the only thing Self-Determination representatives will rely on are very populist moves in northern Kosovo."

"So far, these have been attempts, which I would call attempts to shut down Serbian institutions, because, as a reminder, temporary authorities were first closed or, shall we say, removed from buildings as early as May of last year, but certain services have re-established themselves. So, just because you physically remove an institution from a building doesn’t mean it’s automatically shut down, because what the Kosovo government is doing is preventing citizens from accessing Serbian services, but they are not removing or doing other things that would eliminate the population's need for these services, or enabling the population to legally access those services, as was, after all, the idea behind the Community of Serb Municipalities, which was supposed to be an institution recognized by both Belgrade and Pristina and would provide a wider range of services," she stated.

When asked how she comments on Kurti's visit to northern Kosovo, she said that several politicians from Pristina had come to the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.

"Albanian officials have been visiting northern Kosovo for some time, and I think there is generally no problem with that; it has happened before. The problem is that representatives of the Self-Determination Movement are coming, and they are the face of a policy that has greatly harmed the position of the Serbian community," she said.