Serbia's interference in elections, "harmful to democracy, EU response insufficient"

Serbia's interference in the Kosovo elections is harmful to the country's democracy. This is how the official Belgrade's pressure for the Serbian List to vote in the February 9 elections is commented. Abit Hoxha, a lecturer in media and conflict at the University of Agder in Norway, tells Kosova Press that Serbia's interference is ongoing, while criticizing the international community for allowing something like this. 

"The issue of the Serbian List and the strengthening of the Serbian List only suits Serbia. This is also the first consequence. The second consequence for the institutions of Kosovo is that the strengthening of the Serbian List may create a new 'king maker' in the creation of the government, but if not, it will create an internal barrier in the institutions of Kosovo which will always represent the interest of the Serbian state in Kosovo... If the international community had slightly more pronounced principles in the Balkans, it would not allow such interventions, or at least it would warn the OSCE or other institutions that deal with elections - the Council of Europe and others - that this should not happen on a continuous basis", he adds.

Besar Gërgi from the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) considers the European Union's reaction to Serbia's interference in the Kosovo elections insufficient.

“[The response] is not enough because the first reaction should come from Kosovo institutions. We have not seen any reaction from either the presidency, the Prime Minister’s Office or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, who should have reacted to the systematic violations that are being committed against the Ohrid Agreement. And we must understand that every time the international factor demands the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, they do so based on the Ohrid Agreement and they have the right to demand it because it is part of the agreement. However, the systematic violation of this agreement by Serbia would make the establishment of the Association at this time a potentially harmful project for Kosovo’s sovereignty.”

German Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde reacted a few days ago by saying that Serbia had interfered in the regular elections in Kosovo. The director of the so-called Kosovo Office in Serbia, Petar Petkovic, accused the ambassador of bias. (A2 Televizion)