Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that people would declare themselves on the future of Kosovo, so one could ask what the stance of Serbian citizens in relation to Kosovo is, TV Prva reports on Sunday.
The TV Prva crew conducted a “mini referendum” on Belgrade streets, offering three possibilities to respondents – recognition of independence, frozen conflict and division, and presented some of the citizens’ responses.
- Frozen conflict, no division, it has been Serbian land since ever;
- No to independence, frozen conflict is already there. Division, so let it be ours what is already ours;
- Neither option, Kosovo is Serbia;
- Division of Kosovo. I think things are complicated, therefore neither recognition, nor conflict that would last endlessly. I think both sides could live (side by side) and find some solution, because it obviously does not work like this.
Results of the TV Prva to some extent match those of researches indicating that 80 percent of the Serbian citizens would not accept the independence of Kosovo, while 30 percent would agree to division.
“Citizens expect political elite to lead them through the process that was very painful for all of us over the last couple of decades. It seems, citizens want Kosovo issue to be resolved,” Leo Besiri from the Institute for European Affairs told TV Prva.
A referendum question and manner in which it would be formulated would tell a lot how Serbian politicians imagine Kosovo solution.
“It is the most important and it is also important how preparation would be conducted if that is to happen. We know experienced politicians would not call a referendum with the intention to lose at it,” analyst Nenad Cveticanin told TV Prva.
