Von Cramon: If the mayor is afraid of his own citizens, it is questionable whether this operation will be successful; This does not look good

The rapporteur of the European Parliament for Kosovo, Viola von Cramon, visited Leposavic today, where she said that taking power by force in Serb-majority municipalities was not the solution and that the West would react if there were new escalations.

"I came here because it was important for me to see what was happening with my own eyes, to talk with the people in Zvecan and here, with the people who were present on Friday when the situation escalated and when the police were deployed to protect the elected president. De jure, someone can be elected, but de facto if you have a turnout of one percent or less of the voters, it is questionable whether you have the legitimacy of the de facto support of the people. So if the mayor is afraid of his own citizens, I think it is very questionable whether this operation will be successful. What will happen tomorrow? Or next week? What is the perspective of the municipal building that needs to be protected by heavily armed police vehicles 24 hours a day?" Von Cramon told reporters.

She added that this was a very unfortunate thing that did not look good at all and added that the escalation was not the fault of the media or the police but of the wrong political decisions made in Pristina.

"We will spend the whole day here and tomorrow we will talk to some people in Pristina and ask them what the future of this part of Kosovo is when you need protection to enter the municipal buildings. In the conversation with Kurti, I expressed my concern. I read Blinken's statement, and I saw that Manuel Sarrazin was there yesterday, I see many people who activated themselves to stop these events, to find a peaceful solution, and who are very disappointed that there is no political will to change the situation," the European Parliament rapporteur said.

One of the Serbian journalists asked what Serbian children would do when they had to walk past armed men and people in camouflage uniforms to the primary and secondary schools in the morning.

"I hope that no one intends to further escalate the situation because the West will react. We need stability in the region and we all work together to improve social standards, improve the future, and not escalate conflicts and scare people because I see that they don’t feel comfortable. I don't feel comfortable in the environment of heavily armed vehicles and policemen either," Von Cramon said.

This was followed by the question of how those who had been elected with three percent of the votes would govern the Serbs who made up the majority of 97 percent.

"I think you can see that these are temporary and technical mandates of the mayor, but they must be with the same legitimacy. But in order for all of this to be democratic, the Serb List should participate in the elections. I regret that no one from the Serbian side participated, but if they did it would be easier for all of us, I understand that there were reasons for the boycott, but if they had participated, things would have been easier," Von Cramon said.

Asked "Does she see that criminals are living here", she said that it was too early to judge, but that if there were indications that there were criminals, they should be arrested, if there were any.

"What was done in four municipalities is not the way," Von Cramon said.

What we really need is for people to be treated in a dignified way and to have a responsive way to deal with it," Von Cramon believes.

Before Leposavic, Von Cramon visited Zvecan, where she spoke to the commander of the special police unit.

"Why are you here? Where is the threat? I know it's not your fault; I don't blame you because it's not up to you to decide. This is a difficult situation, this is scary," she said.