"Allow Kosovo Serbs to tackle own problems"

Kosovo Minister Goran Bogdanovic says people in Kosovo should be allowed to solve their own problems. “I know what’s needed and what we should do. Indeed, the motto of our ministry is: “Live in Kosovo, not off Kosovo”, said Bogdanovic in an interview with daily Politika. "Allow Kosovo Serbs to tackle own problems" Stressing that, sadly, many people had “lived off Kosovo”, he said that they had dealt with Kosovo’s problems and had had good salaries. “Some of them worked in Kosovo, and lived with their families in Belgrade, Nis and Kragujevac, and received double salaries. That means 'living off Kosovo'. We cannot have someone who has left Kosovo, has sold up and then returned to work, having priority when it comes to employment. Regardless of the fact that we’re short of staff, there are always skilled people that are ready to work responsibly, and who might not be able to come to the forefront because of these people,” said the minister. He said that there were no control instruments that could be used to prevent people from receiving money from both the Kosovo and Belgrade governments. “There were attempts to resolve that problem for many years. However, when they received instructions to close the current accounts via which they were receiving their pay from Pristina, they’d then go and open a new one. That’s a spiral that we, as a ministry, don’t want to waste time on,” said Bogdanovic, stressing that other ministries too had to devote more attention to that issue. According to the minister, “our legitimate position is that those who work in Kosovo institutions cannot be paid by Belgrade”. In response to the Kosovo Serb Assembly’s request for police officers, justice and customs workers to receive their pay from the government, he said that the majority of government declarations since February 17 had been implemented--20 days ago, to be exact. “I made the payments via the Finance, Interior and Justice Ministries, and the bulk of the job has been completed thanks to good cooperation,” said Bogdanovic, adding that he was surprised that this request had resurfaced, but that “any situation can be politicized”. “I would ask a counter-question: why didn’t they criticize the previous government and ministry, which didn’t implement a single declaration in the last six months of its tenure. Over the last two months, we’ve implemented 90 percent of these declarations,” the minister pointed out. Goran Bogdanovic (FoNet, archive)

"Allow Kosovo Serbs to tackle own problems"

Stressing that, sadly, many people had “lived off Kosovo”, he said that they had dealt with Kosovo’s problems and had had good salaries.

“Some of them worked in Kosovo, and lived with their families in Belgrade, Niš and Kragujevac, and received double salaries. That means 'living off Kosovo'. We cannot have someone who has left Kosovo, has sold up and then returned to work, having priority when it comes to employment. Regardless of the fact that we’re short of staff, there are always skilled people that are ready to work responsibly, and who might not be able to come to the forefront because of these people,” said the minister.

He said that there were no control instruments that could be used to prevent people from receiving money from both the Kosovo and Belgrade governments.

“There were attempts to resolve that problem for many years. However, when they received instructions to close the current accounts via which they were receiving their pay from Priština, they’d then go and open a new one. That’s a spiral that we, as a ministry, don’t want to waste time on,” said Bogdanović, stressing that other ministries too had to devote more attention to that issue.

According to the minister, “our legitimate position is that those who work in Kosovo institutions cannot be paid by Belgrade”.

In response to the Kosovo Serb Assembly’s request for police officers, justice and customs workers to receive their pay from the government, he said that the majority of government declarations since February 17 had been implemented--20 days ago, to be exact.

“I made the payments via the Finance, Interior and Justice Ministries, and the bulk of the job has been completed thanks to good cooperation,” said Bogdanović, adding that he was surprised that this request had resurfaced, but that “any situation can be politicized”.

“I would ask a counter-question: why didn’t they criticize the previous government and ministry, which didn’t implement a single declaration in the last six months of its tenure. Over the last two months, we’ve implemented 90 percent of these declarations,” the minister pointed out.