The second round of local elections in Kosovo has been completed, and after both rounds, the Democratic League of Kosovo won seven municipalities, as did Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination Movement, but the DSK secured power in Pristina. The Serbian List won control in Klokot, meaning they now have mayors in all ten Serb-majority municipalities.
As reported by the Euronews Serbia correspondent, the situation in northern Kosovo today looks completely different after Serbs were absent from local self-governments for three years—neither politically nor administratively involved. The north of Kosovo has become unrecognizable. City symbols have been changed, and Serbian-owned businesses sold to Albanians. That is only part of the challenges the new authorities will face.
“Mayors who won in the elections that Serbs boycotted, of Albanian nationality, in Serbian communities, made numerous decisions. Many of them—or at least some—are decisions that the Serbs, as the majority population, definitely would not agree with. They worked to pass as many of those decisions as possible, at least in the case of the Assembly of the Municipality of North Mitrovica, in order to make it difficult for the new government to reverse or change them,” said Ivan Mitić from the NGO “Aktiv” for Euronews Serbia.
Two unnecessary new bridges over the Ibar River, a foundation stone laid for a school in the Albanian language—although there are not enough Albanian children in the north even for a single class—appropriated sports facilities and cultural venues, are just some of the decisions of the former authorities that will also be difficult to overturn.
“The point is that this definitely won’t be an easy task, and those who think that now the Serbs will return and everything will be as it once was—that remains to be seen, because I must point out again that the Ministry of Local Government Administration is the one that approves many of the decisions made by local authorities,” Mitić added.
Historian Miloš Damjanović told Euronews Serbia that one could expect “the greatest possible sabotage, both political and other forms of disruption.”
“Obstacles that Priština will set before them, because it is not in their interest for these local self-governments with a Serb majority to experience unhindered or positive progress and development,” he said.
While Serbs were absent from the police, the construction of new police stations continued, and special and intervention units are now everywhere. Other people have been employed in the police.
“The first and most important thing when Serbian representatives return to the municipalities is to appoint commanders for the northern police region, because the four mayors have the power to propose who will be the commander of the northern region… As for the return of people to the judiciary, the doors remain open, and solutions can be easily reached with a bit of goodwill,” said Aleksandar Rapajić from the NGO “Center for Advocacy of Democratic Culture.”
Whether there will be goodwill when it comes to municipal employees in the four northern municipalities—many of whom were brought from various parts of southern Kosovo, mostly Albanians who do not even speak the language of the majority—depends on the contracts they were given. And any reversal of decisions, both those of former mayors and local assemblies, will depend entirely on the will of the central government in Priština, that is, the Ministry of Local Government Administration.
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Source: Euronews; Foto: EPA-EFE