Radosavljevic: The West does not listen to the demands of the Serbian community

The director of the non-governmental organization "New Social Initiatives" from North Mitrovica, Jovana Radosavljevic, pointed out that the West did not listen to the demands of the Serbian community and the message of the leader of the Serb List, Goran Rakić, that the condition for removing the barricades was to stop the arrests and that the special police units moved away from the north, Voice of America reports.

"These conditions have not yet been accepted, it seems that there is no attention to it, so we are still waiting to see what will happen next", Radosavljevic says.

She also points out that the raising of barricades was organized, because such things, as she says, are done in an organized manner. According to Radosavljevic, that is good, because there is some kind of control.

"In essence, what is happening now has the support of Belgrade. I think that on November 5, when the representatives of the Serb List, but also of the Kosovo institutions, decided to leave those same institutions - they left because they got the green light from Belgrade. In the previous two years, there were eight requests from the Serb List to Belgrade to leave the Kosovo institutions; each of these requests was rejected. This time it happened that Belgrade basically gave the green light to do it," she added.

According to her, every day the longer the Serbs are out of Kosovo's institutions, the harder it will be for them to return.

"We cannot push a button and expect everything to be normal, especially if there is no amnesty law, especially regarding former police officers. So I think we are now in a situation where we have to react urgently to the situation on the ground. Within that, and I guess beyond that, we will probably see a situation where the Franco-German proposal and some progress in the dialogue process are being discussed," Radosavljevic says.

When asked if she believes in the possibility of 1,000 members of the Serbian security forces coming to Kosovo, Radosavljevic says that she thinks it is not realistic.

"I think that the announcement of sending requests to KFOR has more of a political message and dimension than it is realistic and practically feasible. I think that this is not the first time that such a request has been sent - the late Prime Minister Djindjic also did it in 2003, if I am not mistaken, when that same request was rejected. This is more of a political message to the institutions in Pristina, who is the one to be asked if the Serbian army can enter or not. The request is sent to KFOR, not to the Kosovo institutions", she pointed out.

Speaking about a topic that at the moment stands like a bone in the throat of both Belgrade and Pristina, Radosavljevic points out that "basically, neither the Serbian community in Kosovo, nor Belgrade, want the CSM, because it basically leads to the further consolidation of Kosovo's statehood on the territory of the north Kosovo".

In an interview with the Voice of America, she recalls the statement of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti that he has not heard a single Serb who wants to form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities.

"And that is partly true. If you look at it from the perspective of a Kosovo Serb, the existence of the CSM means further integration, probably complete integration within the Kosovo system, which is essentially not in the interest of the community. But in a situation where something like that happens, the citizens would also be in favor of that option, especially because that community would be a body that would deal with issues of key interest for the community and the sustainability of the community on the ground, namely education and health, as and some other questions. It's not that the citizens are against the CSM, but what it symbolizes", she emphasized.

As she stated, these days and weeks have culminated a situation that has been going on for a year and a half, since Self-Determination and Albin Kurti came into power in Kosovo.

According to her, since then, Pristina has been opening one crisis after another, which has forced Belgrade to react, which, she believes, "sometimes may not have been the best".

"Today, the Serbs see Belgrade as their protector, and in Kosovo, things have come to such a point that neither the Serbian community has confidence in the Kosovo institutions, nor does Pristina have confidence in the Serbian community," Radosavljevic concluded.