Government wants Serbs to back Serb List in Kosovo election

Government wants Serbs to back Serb List in Kosovo election

Speaking after a meeting between representatives of the Serb (Srpska9 List and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Djuric that the Serb List gathers "all Serb representatives who want to work and cooperate with Serbia, would like to fight for the interests of the Serbian people in the southern province and rely on the strong support of the Serbian state, the nation, and most of the compatriots in the province."

According to him, the Serbian government believes that the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija should gather around the Serb List "primarily because in this election it also means continued support of Serbian state to the institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the continuation of institutional relations."

Only the Serb List can guarantee and fight in the provincial institutions that the relationship between Belgrade and our people in Kosovo remains unbroken, Djuric said.

He pointed out that deputies (members of the Kosovo Assembly) from the Serb List "prevented the formation of a Kosovo army and that its establishment requires four out of ten Serbian votes, which must not be allowed."

"Albanians are trying in every way through various abuses and machinations, including through buying of certain Serbian representatives to get Serbian mandates, as well as other mandates," Djuric noted, adding that they had registered a series of lists on which there are actually people who are in direct function and directly delegated by Albanian parties in order to take control of the most part of the non-Albanian population and placed the political system in the province under their full control.

Djuric said that Vucic "conveyed to representatives of the Serb people in Kosovo the support and solidarity of the people of Serbia and the desire of Serbian state institutions and all our people that the Serbs in Kosovo vote strongly for their interests."

Minister of Labor, Employment, Social and Veteran Affairs Aleksandar Vulin said that "the only reason that the Kosovo Army has not been formed is because the MPs of the Serb List prevent that."

"If there are no deputies who really speak on behalf of the Serb people, rest assured that the Kosovo Army will be a new factor in Kosovo and Metohija. When you listen to candidate for Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who is threatening to reach Nis (a town in southern Serbia), it can be assumed what he will do once he has an army. The Serbs must not allow that," Vulin said.

Minister of Energy and Mining Aleksandar Antic stressed the importance of conservation of energy capacity, especially for supplying northern Kosovo.

"The issue of security of supply of electricity to the north is an extremely sensitive issue. For us the Gazivode system is of capital importance because it provides security of supply in the north. We take special care of it because any solution that is not fully coordinated with us would bring people in the north of Kosovo to a position of power hostages," Antic warned.

Antic said that very difficult talks regarding that are being conducted and that Pristina's administration is trying to achieve their goals that are not in line with the agreement.

Leader of the Serb List Slavko Simic noted that 20 candidates for MPs held a consultative meeting with Vucic and that since its establishment the Serbian List has been coordinating all its activities with the Serbian government.

"The Serb List is a national project, has become a political brand of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. So far it has been the holder of the peace and stability and the policy of the Serbian government. We prevented them from voting all those legal provisions which were to the detriment of the Serbian people in the province," Simic concluded.