Simic: 2026 budget allocates not a single Euro to Serbian municipalities; the aim is pressure on Serbs

The Assembly in Pristina has adopted the budget for 2026 in the amount of nearly four billion euros. An analysis of the budget shows that no ministry has allocated funds to the ten municipalities with a Serbian majority. In a statement to Kosovo Online, Serb List MP Igor Simic described this as frontal pressure on Serbs with the aim of driving them out of Kosovo.

Simic explained that Serb List MPs submitted nine amendments proposing investments in capital projects in municipalities with a Serbian majority, but that only the nine MPs from his party voted in favor of them.
“There are no capital projects, no investments in infrastructure, no investments that would improve the lives of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. This is the clear policy of the new government that took office a few days ago. It is a clear message to all Serbs. Serb List MPs submitted nine amendments with various projects important to our citizens. In North Mitrovica, we proposed the construction of a cultural center; in Strpce, investment in the Brezovica weekend zone. In Leposavic, we sought to resolve the water supply issue. Unfortunately, we did not receive the support of other MPs—only the nine Serb List MPs voted in favor,” Simic said.

He also recalled that the budgets of North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Leposavic, and Zubin Potok had been adopted by previous assemblies and that they did not allocate funds for projects significant to citizens.
“If we add to this the fact that the budgets used by the municipalities in the north are those adopted by what we consider an illegitimate majority from the previous period—for example, in the municipality of Zvecan, out of 700,000 euros earmarked for capital investments, as much as 600,000 euros is allocated to three Albanian villages that make up less than three percent of the municipality’s population—then it becomes clear that this is frontal pressure on our people aimed at forcing them out of these areas. This is especially evident when you take into account all other developments, including the law on foreigners and vehicles, which has still not been amended and which, according to Pristina, threatens all Serbs as of March 15,” he emphasized.
Legally, there is a possibility that projects intended for the development of Serbian municipalities could be included in the budget during a rebalancing process. However, Simic stated that the evident intention is not to undertake anything that would assist Serbs in these areas.
“On the one hand, investments through the Office for Kosovo and Metohija are being blocked, preventing our state from directly assisting the Serbian people. On the other hand, the government in Pristina does not wish to allocate funds for Serbs. Even during the New Year holidays, when we wanted to decorate the city, they sent inspectors to check the source of funding, even though the funds came from donors who wanted to contribute to the celebrations for citizens. When floods struck North Mitrovica, we engaged volunteers through our activists and people of goodwill to stop the water from entering the Bosniak Mahala neighborhood, saving all residents—predominantly Albanians living in that part of the city. Pristina’s ‘assistance’ consisted of sending economic crime inspectors to determine where the volunteers obtained sand and sandbags and on what basis they were operating, even though they knew that the previous administration had left the municipality of North Mitrovica with a budget of only 70 euros,” Simic concluded.