In the front page Koha Ditore, reports detail the convincing victory of Progressive Party in the elections in Serbia that brought back the fear in Kosovo that Belgrade will increase its ambitions towards Kosovo. The opposite is expected from the north inhabited mainly by Serbs.
Aleksandar Vucic’s party received almost half of the votes from the Serb electoral body, including the majority of votes of Serbs in Kosovo. His political party emerged from the Radical Party of the infamous politician, Vojislav Seselj, which Vucic joined in 1993. At the age of 24, he became secretary of the party and, after Seselj went on trial for war crimes, he and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic established the new party, but remained loyal to a nationalistic discourse.
Kosovo lawyer Azem Vllasi, expert on political developments in Serbia, talked about the reflection of this development in the relations between Kosovo and Serbia. “The fact that Vucic’s party was strengthened in the new elections, will increase their ambitions towards Kosovo to adopt a more populist, nationalistic stance,” said Vllasi.
Meanwhile, analyst Branislav Krstic called on Belgrade to use this in the governance to completely change its policy towards Kosovo. He said that Serbs living in the north need to have a clear message. “It is time for Belgrade to inform Serbs what the reality of negotiations in Brussels is the reality of the future of Serbs in Kosovo – as citisens of Serbia or as citisens of Kosovo. The new leadership in this aspect should have a serious reflection. It should say that Albanians are not minorities in Serbia and that Kosovo Serbs are not part of Serbia,” said Krstic.
