Stevic: Kosovo in a deep political crisis, important decisions should be postponed, especially those that harm Serbs

Journalist from North Mitrovica, Lazar Stevic, tells Kosovo Online that the current political situation shows that Kosovo is facing a deep political crisis whose end is not yet in sight, and warns of the need to postpone key decisions in such circumstances, primarily those that could negatively affect Serbs, including the implementation of new laws on foreigners and vehicles.

He says that at this moment it is not possible to assess who would benefit the most from potential new elections in Kosovo, but that the opposition could use them to consolidate after poor results in the previous parliamentary elections.

“Elections would certainly suit the opposition the most, so they can finally consolidate their ranks, because they truly achieved poor results in the last parliamentary elections. Much lower results than they expected. Now they have a chance to close ranks, fix what was not good and present a stronger challenge to Albin Kurti and his Self-Determination Movement,” Stevic said.

He explains that the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, tried to resolve the crisis that had arisen through constitutional amendments.

“This is yet another political game of parties in Kosovo, primarily Self-Determination, but also the others. The message being sent is that Kosovo is in a deep political crisis, truly a deep political crisis. The end of that crisis is not in sight. They tried to present, with this accelerated election of the Assembly and a new Government, that everything now functions properly, that numerous agreements awaited by the international community have been verified… However, now, in a real example, when they were supposed to be united again, as they call it, and continue that continuity of stability, the first problem appeared, they could not agree on the name of the president. Albin Kurti did not want to give in, he wanted it to be his person, so he could have absolute power both in parliament and in the position of president,” he stated.

However, Stevic points out, opposition parties did not allow this and proposed other names that Kurti did not accept, which led to another crisis, pushing Kosovo toward new elections.

“We will now see, according to the legal deadlines that are running, when the elections will be called. What the international community should see is that this entire situation in Kosovo is not functioning properly, primarily the relationship toward Serbs that has been mentioned recently and this new law that should enter into force. All of that should be postponed because this government and what is happening in Kosovo is not stable and such important decisions cannot be made, especially to the detriment of Serbs living in these areas,” Stevic concluded.