Radakovic: The partial withdrawal of the police means nothing, their presence unnecessary

Dusan Radakovic from the Center for Representation of Democratic Culture believes that the Kosovo government's decision to reduce the presence of the police in and around municipal buildings in Leposavic, Zubin Potok and Zvecan by 25 percent means nothing, and adds that he does not see the purpose of their presence in those facilities which are effectively empty.

Radakovic told for Kosovo Online that Monday's agreement in Bratislava between the EU's special representative for dialogue Miroslav Lajcak and the head of the Kosovo negotiating team, Besnik Bislimi, on steps for de-escalation was still a step forward.

"Any agreement is better than no dialogue. The problems on May 26 arose precisely because there was no dialogue and agreement on everything. Honestly, I don't see the point of special anti-terrorist units sitting in virtually empty municipal buildings in Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potok, except to secure one or two people in them," says Radakovic.

When it comes to new local elections in the north, he says he hopes that they will be held upon resigning of mayors and councilors themselves, who were elected in the elections on April 23 in four municipalities in the north.

"If there is a referendum, we won't have elections for sure before the New Year, or in January, February of next year. So, first the resignations of the mayor and councilors, and then fair and democratic elections should be held so that the composition of municipal assemblies and mayors mirror the structure of the population living there, where 95 percent are Serbs," says Radakovic.

He adds that everything that is done will happen during July, because "August is figuratively speaking a 'dead' month due to vacation".

"Everyone from the EU is on vacation, the international community in Kosovo and Serbia as well, so I don't expect any concrete actions in August. If there is nothing concrete in the next two weeks, then we have to wait for mid-September. The agreement reached in Bratislava is a good step, but the withdrawal of 25 percent of the police is small, the people feel fear because of their presence. I think they should completely withdraw from municipal buildings because they have no function," says Radakovic.