“Serbian List – a noose around the neck of Kosovo Serbs,” Sormaz: Do not vote for it on October 12

Authorial writing Dragan Šormaz for The Geopost

Ahead of the upcoming local elections, the key dilemma facing the Serbian community in Kosovo is whether the Serbian List is the “sole protector” of the interests of the Serbian minority or an organization that represents the interests of criminal structures from northern Kosovo.

Although the Serbian List has enjoyed the open support of Serbian state institutions and resources since its inception, Serbs in Kosovo have also had the opportunity to see the other side of the coin in this organization’s activities. While its officials became fabulously wealthy overnight under the guise of protecting Serbian national interests, the number of Serbs in Kosovo declined, and those who remained in their homes became increasingly impoverished.

In order to establish a political monopoly among Kosovo Serbs, the Serbian List used all means at its disposal, from Serbian state resources to criminal methods. The range of its activities and methods of persuasion ranged from employment in institutions financed from the Serbian budget to the provision of various forms of assistance, and when the carrot approach failed, a wide range of repressive methods were used. Those who were disobedient and politically unsuitable, as well as their family members, were dismissed, and in cases where even this did not yield results, extreme measures were used, such as kidnappings, beatings, car burnings, bombing of family homes, and even murders, such as the assassination of Oliver Ivanović.
Despite the obvious combination of terror and abuse of state resources, the Serbian List was imposed as the legitimate representative of the Serbian people in Kosovo, mainly at the insistence of official Belgrade, which made its status a condition for the continuation of the normalization process.
This is precisely where the key political paradox regarding the Serbian List lies, manifested in the discrepancy between the official goal of its establishment—to support the implementation of the Brussels Agreement—and its actual actions. The Serbian List obeyed the Serbian government and forced Serbs in the four northern municipalities to leave all Kosovo institutions in which they were operating in accordance with the Brussels Agreement! It did not do so in the other six municipalities with a Serbian majority! Why??!!! Because Vučić planned to enable the separation of these four municipalities from the rest of Kosovo! This is his old plan. He tried to achieve it diplomatically during Trump’s first term, and after failing, he returned to this idea when Russia attacked Ukraine! As a Russophile who was informed by Russian intelligence services, he believed that the criminals in Moscow would quickly win this war! However, the victims of his wrong decision were the Serbs from northern Kosovo – they lost their positions in the Kosovar system, lost their salaries and endangered the existence of their families!

During this time, officials from the Serbian List remained in Kosovo institutions (members of parliament, government positions, etc.), and Vučić rewarded them with jobs in Serbia, positions in public companies and institutions, and they quickly became wealthy, even though everyone knows that they were not wealthy before the Serbian List was formed! This mistake was followed by new ones – a boycott of early local elections, then an attack on KFOR in May 2023, and finally a terrorist attack on police officers in Banjska and the murder of one of them! Police officers who would not have been in Banjska at all if the Serbian List had not previously carried out the abandonment of the Kosovo police! If anyone is responsible for the four deaths that day, it is the supporters and servants of the Serbian List! This incident fully exposed the destructive actions of this organization, which, despite the assurances of official Belgrade, has not been focused on implementation, but on undermining the Brussels Agreement and essentially blocking the normalization process.

All this enabled the government in Pristina to establish all of Kosovo’s institutions and implement everything agreed upon during the dialogue with Serbia (passports, license plates, electricity bills, currency, closure of Serbia’s last institutional offices, etc.), which further accelerated and complicated the lives of citizens in the northern municipalities who were unprepared for such changes!

Although it seemed that after Banjska, the Srpska Lista would come to an end, thanks to the efforts of the Vučić regime, it remained on the scene, brutally stifling any attempt to create true political pluralism among Kosovo Serbs. However, despite the regime’s propaganda and open blackmail, it is clear to Serbs in Kosovo that this organization is a noose around the neck of the Serbian people and not a protector of their interests. Nevertheless, due to intimidation and open repression, Serbs in Kosovo are now hostages of Milan Radojicić and Vučić’s regime, who see the normalization process as a vital threat to their criminal interests in Kosovo.

Due to the actions of the Serbian List and the Belgrade regime’s support for such actions, the survival of Serbs in Kosovo is now in question, and there is a danger of further mass emigration, for which Belgrade propaganda will blame Pristina and use this as a new argument to spread hatred and prevent the normalization process.

Without decisive international pressure to put the normalization process on a sustainable footing, the actions of official Belgrade and the Serbian List will remain a constant factor of instability and a springboard for malign external interference by Russia, which sees the destabilization of the region as an opportunity for potential trade with the West.

For all these reasons, Serbs in Kosovo should turn out in large numbers on Sunday to vote freely in the local elections. They must vote in their own interests. They should vote for people who will lead the municipalities in their interests, not in the interests of Vučić’s regime, his criminals, and his servants! They should vote for capable municipalities that will easily form an association of municipalities with a Serbian majority, because only then will no one in Pristina be able to delay this process! Serbs should vote for those who will enable them to coexist with their neighbors, not those who will enrich themselves by shouting slogans, spreading myths, and serving only Vučić! Serbs should vote for people, not servants, not the Serbian List, because it is made up only of servants!/The Geopost/