AFP – Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Tuesday accused the country’s largest ethnic-Serbian party of being under the command of Belgrade as authorities consider its appeal against being barred from running in the upcoming national elections.
“The Serb List is unfortunately representing the wide scope and high degree of Serbia’s interference in Kosovo’s internal affairs,” Kurti told reporters at a press conference.
The Central Election Commission refused on Monday to certify the Serbs List’s participation in the February 9 elections due to its strong links with Belgrade, saying it was “acting as if it were in Serbia and not in Kosovo”.
A member of the election body said he could not approve “an entity that openly does not recognise the state of Kosovo”. If its participation is refused again, the Serb List will have the right to appeal for the second time to the Supreme Court, whose rulings are final.
Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared independence in 2008, but Belgrade still refuses to recognise this move, encouraging the Serb minority both politically and financially to remain loyal to Serbia.
Kurti said Serbia is providing refuge to the former vice-president of the Serb List, Milan Radoicic, whose extradition Pristina is seeking for allegedly commanding an armed attack on Kosovo police near the Banjska monastery in North Kosovo in September 2023.
Despite resigning from his political position after the Banjska clash, “Radoicic continues to be the de-facto head of Srpska Lista”, Kurti said, using the group’s Serbian name.
“In my view, the Serb List is not an expression of the political organisation of Serbs in Kosovo, but rather Belgrade’s dictate to the Serbs of Kosovo by placing Radoicic as the leader of that party,” Kurti added.
