Radojevic: Agreement on the implementation of the Law on Foreigners – a step in a positive direction

Milan Radojevic, the Mayor of North Mitrovica, said that the agreement on the implementation of the Law on Foreigners is a step in a positive direction, but that they expect the international community to monitor the implementation of the law in order to prevent possible obstructions on the ground.

“Today is a normal working day in Kosovska Mitrovica, the university is functioning, as well as the clinical hospital center, and doctors are at work. It would be best if this law did not exist at all, but since that is not realistic, we must seek solutions in a diplomatic sense. The full implementation of the Law on Foreigners in its original form would truly mean administrative ethnic cleansing, so these concessions represent a positive direction. We expect the international community to prevent certain maneuvers by Pristina. We hope that the European Union will prevent possible obstructions on the ground by Pristina,” Radojevic told Euronews Serbia.

Asked whether there are concerns that certain difficulties might arise in implementing the agreed solution, Radojevic said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo announced yesterday the adoption of an administrative instruction that should regulate this issue.

“There is concern about what that instruction will look like. In the previous period it was very difficult to obtain Pristina-issued documents. It happened that a woman from central Serbia, who is a wife and mother and has lived in Kosovo for ten years, could not obtain documents even though her husband and children had them. We hope that the European Union will be involved in implementing this law in order to prevent possible problems,” the mayor of North Mitrovica stressed.

He also explained what the role of Serbian mayors and municipalities with a Serbian majority will be.

“It has been agreed that mayors in municipalities with a Serbian majority will receive lists of employees which they will forward to the competent authorities in the interior ministry so that those people can obtain work permits and be able to work and go to their jobs without obstacles,” Radojevic said.

He added that Kosovska Mitrovica has always been proud of being the administrative center for Serbs in the north of Kosovo, especially because the university and the clinical hospital center are located there.

“That is exactly the problem for Albin Kurti and Pristina, because they are trying in every way to suffocate those institutions, knowing that in doing so they would also suffocate the future of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. The existence of the University of Pristina and the Clinical Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica are red lines and a guarantee of our survival in Kosovo and Metohija,” Radojevic concluded.