Serbian List criticizes Student List: Its rhetoric resembles Pristina’s

Serbian List has responded for the first time to the position taken by Student List, which won the elections in Serbia and said it would not cooperate with Serbian List.

On November 7, Student List candidate from Kosovo Jugosllav Gashiq said cooperation with Serbian List was not possible. He said they could not work with a political group that had been chiefly responsible for the situation Serbs find themselves in throughout this period.

Serbian List said that, for several days, its representatives had faced warnings of arrests, threats of dismissal and insulting accusations from individuals running on Student List.

The largest party representing Serbs in Kosovo said the way the election winners in Serbia communicate resembles Pristina’s rhetoric. It stressed that, while accusations have been made, no solutions or concrete proposals have been put forward to address the Serbian community’s problems.

Serbian List said it had avoided being drawn into pointless day-to-day political debates with Student List representatives in recent days because of its responsibility to the Serbian people in Kosovo and the seriousness of the situation.

The party said it would not back down from defending the rights of Serbs, Serbian institutions, jobs and social benefits. It also said it would continue working to create conditions that would ensure the survival of the Serbian people in these areas.

Serbian List stressed that its representatives, democratically elected in the ten Serb-majority municipalities and through its nine members of the Assembly in Pristina, would use every institutional and political mechanism available to defend the community’s interests.

It noted that its lawmakers have constitutional mechanisms to block changes to Kosovo’s Constitution without the approval of representatives of non-majority communities. According to the party, those powers can also be used to oppose any undermining of the status of the Serbian language, the rights of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Serbian cultural and religious heritage, as well as any attempt to change the constitutional order toward uniting Kosovo with Albania.

The Serbian party argued that such issues, which it considers vital to the community’s future, cannot be resolved through television appearances and political clashes. It added that headline-grabbing statements, without concrete proposals and action, would neither protect Serbian families nor resolve citizens’ everyday difficulties.

Serbian List stressed that no one should be above the law, but responsibility cannot be determined through the media or political statements. It said the reality facing Serbs in Kosovo should be assessed from the perspective of people who live there, raise children, protect their families and face challenges every day, not from that of someone hundreds of kilometers away.

The response also addressed warnings that the heads of vital institutions would be dismissed. Serbian List said those officials had protected the institutions from Kurti’s government. It said removing them in violation of the law and without any legal wrongdoing having been proven would not help any Serbian family, but would harm them.

In closing, Serbian List said the Serbian community did not need new divisions, threats or political rivalry, but responsibility, security, concrete solutions and a clear prospect of remaining and surviving in their communities. It said it would respond to insults and threats not in kind, but through institutional work and the continued defense of the Serbian people’s rights.