Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Dalibor Jevtic says for DW that the Serbian List has excellent cooperation with Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and that more important are everyday life issues from the issues of the status of Kosovo, reports RTK2.
The current Kosovo government has included the issue of the Community/Association of Serb municipalities (ZSO) in its program, and Jevtic expects that next year concrete steps will be taken.
“The ZSO is not part of our coalition agreement and it must not be. ZSO is part of Pristina’s international obligations. We insist that what is signed to be done.”
Jevtic points out that the Serbian List did not go to the government to block something but to start things from a dead end.
He says that cooperation with Belgrade exists, but that the representatives of the Serbian List make decisions alone, and the List itself has decided to participate in the Government, although they had a different opinion in Belgrade.
“From the first day with the Prime Minister, Mr. Haradinaj, we have exceptional cooperation and we very specifically started solving many issues,” Jevtic says when asked to comment on Haradinaj’s recent detention in France along with Belgrade’s charges of him being a war criminal, and that now the Serbs participate in his government.
Problems will not be solved “if we refuse to cooperate, to talk,” Jevtic adds.
Asked by DW whether Serbia would ever recognize Kosovo’s independence, he replied that the answer should be sought in Belgrade.
“What will be in the future, I, or anyone, at this moment cannot say. I think there are many more important issues to be addressed. We do not need formalities but essence. The essence is the coexistence, better relations between Serbs and Albanians, and I think that this should be the main goal of any discussion between any Belgrade and Pristina official.”
The DW interlocutor did not specifically answer the question of whether he recognizes the Republic of Kosovo in whose government he is a minister.
“My work and the work of my colleagues in front of the Serbian List refer to the daily life of citizens. Whatever I answer, it will not change life on the ground. “
Jevtic, who is also the Minister of Returns and Communities, once again reiterated that the Serbian List will not support the formation of the Kosovo Army. On the other hand, the Serbian List supports the Special Criminal Tribunal for the KLA, which begins operations in The Hague.
As far as his office is concerned, he said the results of the return were “almost devastating”. More than 200,000 displaced persons from Kosovo have been officially registered in Serbia and Montenegro, and only 20,000 returned.
“It is devastating that after two decades we are still talking about the issue of return,” Jevtic said.
And as the success of his ministry, he said that at least the trend of departure from Kosovo was halted.
“Without the survival of the Serbs, there will be no return,” concluded Jevtic for DW.
