Referendum "will damage Serbia politically"

Goran Bogdanovic has said that holding a referendum in Kosovo's north might not be a huge economic damage, but would cost Serbia dearly in political terms. The minister for Kosovo believes that if held, the referendum can only damage the interests of the citizens both north and south of the Ibar River, especially the latter ones. He stressed that the referendum would also frustrate the interests of the Serbian authorities, who fought for the rights of Kosovo Serbs. Referendum "will damage Serbia politically" “Holding a referendum would undermine our credibility and capacity in the talks with the international community. We all know the outcome in advance, since we are all against Kosovo's institutions. Why bother then, unless the purpose is scoring some points in daily politics. Certain individuals want to ingratiate themselves with Belgrade structures ahead of the elections, at the expense of the common people,” the online edition of Press quoted Bogdanovic as saying. The tabloid said that the cost of holding the referendums in the four Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo (Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic) on February 14-15, would not exceed EUR 500. The expenses would be paid from the local self-governments' budgets, which in themselves are allocations from Belgrade's state coffers. Representatives of the referendum commissions claim that the commissions' members will waive the money for their service. The entire cost to cover the printing of a total of 40,000 ballots, of which 1,300 will have the content written in the Albanian language, will not exceed RSD 50,000, they add. Bogdanovic said he doubted the referendum costs would reach no more than EUR 500, stressing that there were already posters and billboards in northern Kosovo calling citizens to come to the referendum, which also cost money. “Money is being spent for no reason, while the citizens struggle to just survive,” Bogdanovic observed. Goran Bogdanovic (file) Tanjug Press

Referendum "will damage Serbia politically"

“Holding a referendum would undermine our credibility and capacity in the talks with the international community. We all know the outcome in advance, since we are all against Kosovo's institutions. Why bother then, unless the purpose is scoring some points in daily politics. Certain individuals want to ingratiate themselves with Belgrade structures ahead of the elections, at the expense of the common people,” the online edition of Press quoted Bogdanović as saying.

The tabloid said that the cost of holding the referendums in the four Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo (Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvečan, Zubin Potok and Leposavić) on February 14-15, would not exceed EUR 500.

The expenses would be paid from the local self-governments' budgets, which in themselves are allocations from Belgrade's state coffers.

Representatives of the referendum commissions claim that the commissions' members will waive the money for their service. The entire cost to cover the printing of a total of 40,000 ballots, of which 1,300 will have the content written in the Albanian language, will not exceed RSD 50,000, they add.

Bogdanović said he doubted the referendum costs would reach no more than EUR 500, stressing that there were already posters and billboards in northern Kosovo calling citizens to come to the referendum, which also cost money.

“Money is being spent for no reason, while the citizens struggle to just survive,” Bogdanović observed.