Mijacic: If Kurti forms a new government, he will continue undermining interethnic relations

Dragisa Mijacic, Coordinator of the Working Group of the National Convention on the EU for Chapter 35, stated that if the leader of the Self-Determination Movement, Albin Kurti, independently forms a new government, he will continue with unilateral actions that undermine interethnic relations in Kosovo.

"If Kurti gets the opportunity to form a government on his own in the coming period, I believe he will continue with actions similar to those of the past four years, which have certainly harmed interethnic relations in Kosovo," Mijacic said for Kosovo Online.

He notes that it was expected that Kurti would exploit this narrative to the maximum during the campaign since it was precisely this approach that brought him to power four years ago.

"Ethnonationalism is the foundation on which Kurti came to power. While he also gained support from the Albanian electorate through his stance against corruption, he consolidated and strengthened his rule by promoting ethnonationalism and carrying out unilateral actions in northern Kosovo," Mijacic explained.

He emphasizes that continuing such policies would prolong the current unsustainable situation in northern Kosovo.

"The current situation is truly unsustainable. We have special police forces patrolling, heavily armed, in Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo. We have Albanian mayors governing these municipalities. We are witnessing the dismantling of institutions that have been built over the years, including those for interethnic cooperation. Such circumstances should not be further reinforced in the coming period. A lot will depend on who forms the government, but also on the international community, which has been relatively lenient toward all the actions taken by this government so far," Mijacic concluded.