Canaj: The more Self-Determination attacks the Serb List, the stronger it will become

Diplomat and university professor Blerim Canaj stated that the attacks on the newly elected Speaker of Parliament, Dimal Basha, are driven by “political reasons and games,” while Self-Determination’s attempts to block the Serb List only make the party “stronger and stronger.”

Canaj emphasized that legal experts agree Basha’s claim that the Assembly has been constituted is “unconstitutional,” since the process must include the election of both the Speaker and all Deputy Speakers of Parliament.

He noted that the deadlock has occurred because of the Serb List’s candidate.

“After what happened in Banjska, and speaking as a citizen of this country, I too would be against cooperation with the Serb List. But you cannot block it, because that is unconstitutional. The Serb List has nine deputies in parliament, and the Serbs trust the Serb List,” Canaj told Kosovo Online.

He argued that this is a political decision by Self-Determination, which ultimately only strengthens the largest Serbian party in Kosovo.

“The more Kurti blocks the Serb List, the stronger it will become, since it seems that only SL defends the interests of the Serbs in Kosovo. If he really wanted to block the Serb List, they would not have been given 300,000 euros for the elections, but would have at least tried, after Banjska, to declare whether it was a terrorist or unconstitutional party. This means that when Kurti needs the Serb List, he cooperates with it; now, because elections are approaching, he acts against it. After the elections, I am certain it will be different,” Canaj said.

Veterans’ organizations of the KLA have demanded Basha’s dismissal because of a scholarly paper he published in 2012, and Canaj noted that Self-Determination has always “played along with the KLA.”

At the same time, he described the behavior of the opposition as a “political game.”

“It is dangerous now for the opposition to vote for the Serb List, because they would certainly be accused by Self-Determination of being collaborators. That is why they did not vote either ‘for’ or ‘against,’ but abstained. It is all a political game,” Canaj stressed.