Gudzic: Kosovo's political elites want the CSM modeled after the Croatian example - a shell without content

Analyst from Gracanica, Aleksandar Gudzic, pointed out that Kosovo's political elites essentially want to avoid granting any autonomy to the Serbian community, and that at best it would resemble the Croatian model where the Community of Serb Municipalities would be a non-governmental organization.

"The Serbs in Kosovo would not receive any form of autonomy. This Community of Serb Municipalities, if formed according to the desires and readiness of Kosovo's Albanian political elites, would be a non-governmental organization. A shell without content, in which Serbs would nominally have a certain form of autonomy, but in essence, they would not have autonomy and would not be able to decide on vital issues," Gudzic said for Kosovo online.

He added that such a form of autonomy would most resemble the self-organization of the Serbian community in Croatia.

"The current position of Serbs in Croatia is such that the Serbian National Council has the status of a non-governmental organization. So, the political representatives of Serbs in Croatia are not consulted on anything, they do not decide on key and important issues. Unfortunately," Gudzic concluded.

He adds that a parallel with Croatia can be drawn on another basis.

"The Croatian army emerged as the victor after the war in the 1990s, and Croatian political elites believe that as victors, they are entitled to the honor and opportunity to dictate the conditions and forms of autonomy to the Serbs. Which is understandable. Such a form of autonomy is what the Kosovo political elites want to give to the Kosovo Serbs. So, the CSM would be a non-governmental organization, a shell without content. This is the highest form of autonomy that today's political elites of the Albanians in Kosovo are willing to give to the Serbs," Gudzic believes.

Asked whether the Serbs expect to receive the status that the Republic of Srpska has within BiH, he notes that this is a narrative that is being emphasized by Albanian political elites, specifically to intimidate Western diplomats.

"They do not want the CSM to be a new Republic of Srpska or Krajina. They actually use a narrative and language that are understood by diplomats coming from Western democratic countries. Primarily, I mean countries of Western Europe, but also the USA. So, they use this narrative to scare the political elites coming, the international representatives coming from America and Western European countries, in order to prevent them from giving any form of autonomy to the Serbs," Gudzic emphasizes.

He explains that the key reason lies in the fact that Kosovo's political elites do not want to confront the recent past.

"Today's Kosovo political elites are not ready to confront the crimes committed in the name of the Albanian people by individuals in the KLA and other paramilitary formations in 1999 and 2000. They are not ready to face the fact that over 230,000 Serbs were expelled in 1999 and 2000. They are not ready to face the fact that Serbian cultural heritage was subjected to cultural cleansing, as over 150 churches and monasteries were destroyed between 1999 and 2004, some of which are masterpieces of world cultural heritage, the most significant monuments on a global level. So, this alone speaks to the immaturity of society, the political milieu in Kosovo," Gudzic concludes.