"Kosovo turning into Transnistria”

Kosovo politician and publicist Veton Surroi has warned that Kosovo is turning into “a kind of Transnistria.” He adds that the EU must decide whether it wants a protectorate for 20 more years, or a Kosovo that will one day enter the Union. "Kosovo turning into Transnistria” “Since independence was declared, Kosovo has practically split into a Serb north and an Albanian south,” said Surroi, in an interview with Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza published yesterday. According to the Kosovo politician, in the long term, there is a danger in Kosovo of an unclear division of powers with four important actors involved—the Kosovo government, UNMIK, the fledgling EU mission, and the Serbs in the north. “It is hard to talk about any sort of control. In the north today, we have a sort of Transnistria. I think that the EU should ask itself whether it wants to have a protectorate in Kosovo for 20 more years, or a country that will be an EU candidate in 10 or 15 years,” Surroi said. Surroi condemned the intentions of Belgrade officials to hold Serbian local elections in Kosovo, saying that it could spark violence. “Tensions will only rise unnecessarily, violence could occur. Those few thousand Kosovo Serb votes have no meaning whatsoever to the outcome. We are talking about propaganda to show that Kosovo is Serbian property,” he said, adding that those elections were bad for the Kosovo Serbs because they created the illusion that Belgrade would come and solve their problems. The snap elections in Serbia themselves, according to Surroi, had no wider meaning for Kosovo. “I don’t think that the Serbs will find an answer to the question of whether their country should turn towards nationalism at those elections, because Serbia has been nationalistic for a long time. Rather, it will answer how that nationalism should be defined, and how much influence it should have on politics,” the Kosovo politician summed up.

"Kosovo turning into Transnistria”

“Since independence was declared, Kosovo has practically split into a Serb north and an Albanian south,” said Surroi, in an interview with Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza published yesterday.

According to the Kosovo politician, in the long term, there is a danger in Kosovo of an unclear division of powers with four important actors involved—the Kosovo government, UNMIK, the fledgling EU mission, and the Serbs in the north.

“It is hard to talk about any sort of control. In the north today, we have a sort of Transnistria. I think that the EU should ask itself whether it wants to have a protectorate in Kosovo for 20 more years, or a country that will be an EU candidate in 10 or 15 years,” Surroi said.

Surroi condemned the intentions of Belgrade officials to hold Serbian local elections in Kosovo, saying that it could spark violence.

“Tensions will only rise unnecessarily, violence could occur. Those few thousand Kosovo Serb votes have no meaning whatsoever to the outcome. We are talking about propaganda to show that Kosovo is Serbian property,” he said, adding that those elections were bad for the Kosovo Serbs because they created the illusion that Belgrade would come and solve their problems.

The snap elections in Serbia themselves, according to Surroi, had no wider meaning for Kosovo.

“I don’t think that the Serbs will find an answer to the question of whether their country should turn towards nationalism at those elections, because Serbia has been nationalistic for a long time. Rather, it will answer how that nationalism should be defined, and how much influence it should have on politics,” the Kosovo politician summed up.