The Student List’s victory in Serbia’s parliamentary elections has not clarified what position the next government will take on Kosovo. That is the assessment of Nenad Čanak, a Serbian politician, former lawmaker and co-founder of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina.
In an interview with Radio Dukagjini, he said the major shift in Serbia’s political landscape was not enough to determine whether there would also be a different approach to Kosovo. In his view, Serbia still lacks a clear direction on the issue.
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Čanak explained that the student movement that defeated Aleksandar Vučić’s government united primarily around opposition to the regime, without presenting a clearly defined platform on key political issues. He described Vučić’s regime as clerical-fascist and stressed that resistance to it, rather than a concrete platform, was the foundation on which the Student List was built.
Recalling the origins of the protests, the Serbian politician said they erupted after the collapse of the canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. According to him, demands for accountability from institutions gradually developed into a political movement that changed the parliamentary majority.
It is precisely this lack of a clear platform, Čanak believes, that makes it difficult to predict the steps the incoming government will take, particularly regarding relations with Kosovo.
He noted that presidential elections lie ahead, in which the Student List is certain to field its own candidate. Then, in the sequence he outlined, come the constitution of parliament and the formation of the government.
For Čanak, a clearer idea of the country’s direction can emerge only once the executive is in place and the prime minister has presented the government’s program. Meanwhile, it remains unknown who will lead the new government.
He stressed that it had become clear that Serbia could go no further with Vučić, but the new parliamentary majority, which will form the government, has yet to show where it will take the country. In that sense, he said, Serbia remains in a state of uncertainty.
Čanak also sees the change of power in Belgrade as an opportunity for those responsible for the attack in Banjska to face justice.
If institutions fulfill their duties, he told Radio Dukagjini, those responsible for the attack in Banjska and the deaths of four people should stand trial. Such a development, he added, was unimaginable under the Serbian Progressive Party’s rule.
During the interview, Čanak also addressed the consequences that changes in Belgrade could have for the Serb List in Kosovo. Asked about the impact of warnings from Serbia’s election winners that they would not cooperate with the party, he said its weakening was certain.
According to him, the Serb List has functioned as an extension of Aleksandar Vučić’s policies. Čanak believes the new authorities will not tolerate the continuation of such a relationship in the period ahead.
He believes the effects of political change in Serbia could also extend to Belgrade’s relations with Milorad Dodik’s leadership in Republika Srpska. In this context, he pointed to the political support Dodik and Vučić have given each other.
For the Serb community in Kosovo, the possible weakening of the Serb List would mean a need to establish alternative political representation, Čanak said. However, he concluded that he currently sees no new representatives who could take on that role.
