Serbia's election interference: Harmful to democracy, EU response insufficient

Nga A2 CNN
2025-02-21 20:19:00 | Politikë

Serbia's election interference: Harmful to democracy, EU response

Serbia's interference in Kosovo's elections is harmful to the country's democracy. This is how 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, reports A2. 

"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: "It is not enough [the reaction] because the first reaction should come from Kosovo's 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 react to the systematic violations that are being made of 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 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."

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

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