Belgrade Split On Kosovo Serb Planned Vote

Opposition parties say that Serb leaders in Kosovo can decide for themselves whether a referendum is the appropriate solution in the current situation.

“Kosovo Serbs have the right to decide what is best for them, and we are always on the side of the people, and not on Brussels' side,“ Petar Petkovic, spokesman for the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia, told Balkan Insight.

“Kosovo Serbs are not just trying to defend themselves; they are defending the interests of Serbia. We are sure that all the decisions of the Serb municipalities [in northern Kosovo] are the right ones, including this one,” he added.

While the Serbian Progressive Party, the biggest opposition party in the country, has not directly expressed support for the planned vote, officials told media that Kosovo Serb leaders decide on their own the next steps in their struggle to live in Kosovo and that no party headquarters are involved in that decision-making process.

Serb authorities in northern Kosovo announced on Monday that they plan to hold a referendum to ask residents of predominantly Serb areas if they wish to accept Pristina-based institutions. The announcement came on the heels of a new freedom of movement agreement signed between Belgrade and Pristina, which entered into force this week.

“The referendum announcement is a bad initiative cooked up in the kitchen of political parties here in Belgrade,” Borko Stefanovic, head of Serbia's team for talks with Kosovo, said in a statement for news agency Tanjug.

His colleague in the government, Goran Bogdanovic, minister for Kosovo, also contended that the referendum idea is guided by opposition parties in Serbia.