Campaign for ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, Janjiq: Vučić and Dačić share Paunović’s vision

Dushan Janjiq, executive director of the Forum for Ethnic Relations and one of the most profound experts on Balkan dynamics, considers that the statement by Serbian Minister of Public Administration Snežana Paunović about ethnic cleansing of Kosovo of Albanians surpasses in harshness even the policy of Slobodan Milošević.

He argues that Paunović is not an isolated voice but part of a broader strategy in which President Aleksandar Vučić and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić, both figures with legacies from the ’90s, also participate.

According to Janjiq, this statement is more extreme than Milošević’s own action, as it suggests that he did not complete what he undertook, calling for its completion. He adds that many Serbs from Kosovo, who settled in Serbia and obtained positions, are today part of a campaign orchestrated by Vučić. Paunović, he believes, must bear personal responsibility for her words and cannot exercise public functions, but in reality she is an instrument in a broader movement that also includes Dačić and Vučić.

Janjiq emphasizes that the political mindset in Belgrade regarding Kosovo has not fundamentally changed since Milošević’s time. He shows that Milošević created a mythology to escape responsibility, propagating that Serbia did not wage war and did not attack anyone, and this narrative took root in education and public opinion.

Today, many young people do not perceive Kosovo as a reality where people live, but as a myth, precisely that of Vidovdan, which served as the starting point for the wars. Vučić, in building his populist policy, especially after the failure of the idea of dividing the north, began to openly express what others, including Zoran Đinđić, had thought: that coexistence with Albanians is impossible and that separation is necessary, and if not, they must go to Albania. This myth feeds the belief that Kosovo will again belong to Serbia, therefore the incident with Paunović, however paradoxical, serves as a wake-up call in the face of reality.

A part of the responsibility for this climate Janjiq also attributes to the European Commission, which did not initiate the normalization dialogue from the fundamental premise that reconciliation requires the healing of societies on both sides. The lack of criticism and reactions has encouraged these policies, and now Vučić uses this as an argument for his double game: on the one hand, he highlights Paunović and Dačić, protecting them, which serves to discipline the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), which is signaling changes with new cadres and is considering leaving the coalition; on the other hand, he presents himself before Westerners as the moderate who will fix the situation.

However, Janjiq underlines that in the Serbian political scene there is currently no genuinely moderate politician, but it would be wrong to say that the majority of citizens, especially the dissatisfied, the student movement, and protesters, do not think differently.