Stefan Surlic: Kurti’s campaign will focus on imaginary enemies within the Serbian community

Assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, Stefan Surlic, stated for Kosovo Online that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti cannot run his upcoming election campaign on issues such as the fight against corruption and crime, but will instead base it on what he described as imaginary enemies within the Serbian community.

“During previous campaigns, Kurti already exploited issues related to northern Kosovo—from license plates to bridge construction—claiming that he had fully consolidated sovereignty in the north. I believe he has no other topic to offer, neither economic development nor significant progress in combating corruption and crime, even though it was precisely on that platform that he first came to power,” Surlic recalled.

According to him, Kurti will rely on creating imaginary enemies among Serbs, who are already facing daily existential challenges.

“The only issue he has up his sleeve is the creation of imaginary enemies within the Serbian community, which is deeply fragmented and struggling with infrastructural and existential problems on a daily basis,” he said.

Another theme of Kurti’s campaign, Surlic assesses, will be the integration of Serbian educational and healthcare institutions.

“The second issue he will use as a campaign topic, as members of the negotiating team have already announced, is the so-called integration of education and healthcare—primarily an attack on the university and educational institutions,” he said.

In his view, the goal of such moves is the abolition of the university.

“This is a kind of demonstration exercise, the aim of which is the abolition of the university, as well as the full integration of the education system into the Kosovo system, which is absolutely unacceptable for the majority of Serbs,” Surlic concluded.