ANALYSIS: How Petkovic manipulates the facts about the elections and "violence against Serbs"

The director of the so-called Office for Kosovo in the Serbian government, Petar Petkovic, stated after a meeting with Slovenian special envoy Anžej Frange that the government in Pristina, through "political and institutional violence", is denying the basic rights of Serbs in Kosovo and that the results of the Serbian List are allegedly "unacceptable".

Petkovic, through his description of the situation, manipulates the facts and presents the status of Serbs in Kosovo as "political and institutional violence", which, according to him, the government in Pristina is exercising against Serbs.

How does Petkovic manipulate the facts?

Describing the CEC decision as “abolition of the will of 43.000 Serbs”

Use of the term “institutional violence”

The claim that Kosovo, through the “law on foreigners and vehicles”, aims to expel Serbs

The claim that Kosovo aims to impose “false representatives” for the Serbian community

The claim that “by taking over health and educational institutions, Pristina is violating the rights of Serbs”

THE LINK OF THE LAM

Analysis

CEC decisions are made based on the Law on General Elections, which stipulates that candidates cannot have final convictions in the last three years.

Decisions are often based on technical omissions by the Serbian List itself or on boycotts they themselves declare.

Reports from the EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) have been emphasizing for years that the Serbian List exerts pressure within the Serbian community, which calls into question the "free will" that Petkovic speaks of.

Petkovic uses the term "violence" for the implementation of laws that are foreseen by the Brussels Agreement (2013), which Belgrade itself signed.

The fact is that the Council of Europe and the EU, in their reports, use the term "rule of law" for the processes that Petkovic calls violence.

The Law on Vehicles (Re-registration in the RKS) is part of the Agreement on Freedom of Movement of 2011 and 2016. Belgrade then agreed that the license plates of cities in Kosovo, issued by Serbia, would be removed.

The Law on Foreigners is a standard procedure for harmonization with EU rules (Schengen Borders Code).

It stipulates that every person who does not have Kosovo documents (including Serbs who refuse to obtain them) must present their position.

The fact is that this law applies to all foreigners in Kosovo (Americans, Germans, Albanians from Albania), and not selectively only to Serbs. The difficulties arise because Belgrade discourages Serbs from obtaining documents. Kosovo, which would ease their status.

The allegations of imposing "false representatives" refer to Albanian mayors in the north or Serbs who have entered the Kosovo Government outside the Serbian List.

These were elected in legal elections, which the Serbian List boycotted on the orders of Belgrade.

By boycotting, they have themselves been excluded from institutions and then declared those institutions illegal.

Petkovic, in his presentations, regularly uses the term “illegal takeover” of Serbian health and educational institutions, instead of the term integration.

However, according to the Ahtisaari Plan and the Brussels dialogue, education and healthcare should be integrated into the Kosovo system.

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