Opposition representatives on the Foreign Committee have taken a strong stance against the statements of the Serbian minister, who declared that Kosovo should have been ethnically cleansed.

Albana Vokshi, while accusing the majority of lacking a clear stance against these statements, called on them to reconsider their position and approve the resolution that has been suspended for several years, which condemns Serbian crimes.

“Patriotism is not political rhetoric, but dignified stances and acts in defense of citizens,” Vokshi said.

In this spirit, the opposition also proposed to the Committee the issuance of a statement against the Serbian minister and the initiation of procedures for her international condemnation due to her evocation of Milošević’s genocide, a proposal that was rejected by the majority.

The proposed statement:

The Committee on Europe and Foreign Affairs examined with concern and deep outrage the statements made publicly by the Minister of the Government of Serbia, Snežana Paunović, who stated that “if she had been in Slobodan Milošević’s place in 1998, she would have carried out ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.”

As the Committee responsible for foreign policy in the Assembly, it expresses the following stance and declares its intention to pursue these avenues of action:

1. The Committee unequivocally and severely condemns these statements, which constitute open praise of one of the most serious crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and display a disgusting nostalgia for the policies of the Milošević regime, convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

2. The Committee recalls and resolutely condemns the crimes committed by the Milošević regime and Serbian paramilitary forces against the Albanian civilian population of Kosovo during 1998–1999, the massacres, the mass expulsions of over 800,000 Albanians, the systematic rapes, the burning of villages, crimes documented by the Hague Tribunal and forever recorded by history and international justice as part of a criminal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Albanian people.

3. The Committee bows with the deepest reverence before the memory of the martyrs and freedom fighters of Kosovo, civilians, women, children and the elderly, as well as fallen fighters in defense of the nation’s freedom and survival, and expresses gratitude to the living heroes, former combatants, survivors and victims’ families, who with their sacrifice have preserved the historical truth and have contributed irreversibly to the building of the Republic of Kosovo as a free and sovereign state.

4. The Committee considers that any statement that praises, minimizes or relativizes these crimes constitutes a grave insult to the memory of the victims and a dangerous incitement reviving genocidal ideologies in the region, and expresses full solidarity with the Republic of Kosovo, welcoming the decision of the Kosovar authorities to declare Minister Paunović persona non grata, as well as the stances of the USA, the United Kingdom and the European Union towards her statement.

4/1. The Committee considers that Minister Paunović’s statement undermines the spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding among the peoples of the region, reopening historical wounds and damaging the trust built through regional dialogue processes.

4/2. This rhetoric also undermines Serbia’s path of European integration, as it contradicts the fundamental values upon which the European Union is built and the political criteria required for candidate countries, including respect for human rights and historical memory.

4/3. The Committee requests the Assembly to adopt the draft resolution proposed by the Democratic Party for the condemnation of the Serbian genocide in Kosovo, as an expression of unity beyond political divisions in defense of national memory.

5. The Committee requests the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to declare Minister Snežana Paunović persona non grata, banning her entry and transit through Albanian territory.

6. The Committee urges the Albanian government to explore legal avenues against Minister Paunović, and her referral for public incitement to ethnic cleansing/genocide, as provided in Article III, point c, of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).

7. The Committee calls on the Government of Serbia to publicly and unequivocally distance itself from these statements, to take immediate institutional measures against any official who promotes such ideologies, and to genuinely confront the past, as a fundamental condition for the credibility of regional normalization processes and European integration.

8. The Foreign Affairs Committee reiterates that the historical truth and the memory of the victims are non-negotiable, that honoring the martyrs and heroes of Kosovo remains a permanent moral and national obligation for all Albanians, and that regional peace can only be built upon a genuine and irreversible break from the conflictual and genocidal policies of the past.

9. The Committee declares its readiness in defense of the principles of good neighborliness, constructive dialogue and reciprocity upon which peace, stability and coexistence in the Western Balkans are based.

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Kamberi announced that he will initiate a request for the minister’s dismissal, stressing that otherwise the lack of reaction will be interpreted as approval of the statement by the entire Government of Serbia.

“The fascist statements of government ministers best show that Milošević’s Serbia remains the same! The statement by the Minister for Local Government, Snežana Paunović, that if she were in Slobodan Milošević’s place she would ethnically cleanse Kosovo, is scandalous, unacceptable, and demands an immediate institutional reaction. For this reason, today, through an official letter, I have requested a reaction from all relevant international embassies in Belgrade.

Such a statement cannot be considered isolated. It is the result of systematic denial of war crimes, glorification of convicted war criminals, relativization of international court decisions, and historical revisionism. For the Albanians of the Preševo Valley, such statements from representatives of state institutions constitute an additional source of insecurity. When a member of the Government talks about ethnic cleansing, members of minority communities rightly ask what security they can expect from these institutions. As a candidate country for membership in the European Union, Serbia has an obligation to respect and protect the rights of minority communities. Such statements are in direct contradiction to these obligations and exceed any democratic standard on which the European Union is based. In my capacity as a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia, I will initiate the request for the minister’s dismissal. Otherwise, silence and lack of action will be understood as approval of her statement and as the official position of the entire Government,” – he writes.

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In its reaction, the institute recalls that the atrocities committed during the 1998–1999 period were met with international justice, where the highest political, military, and police figures of Milošević’s apparatus were convicted for war crimes in Kosovo.

“Despite this, even to this day, high officials of the Serbian state continue to use language that minimizes or legitimizes policies that left behind thousands killed, mass deportations, acts of sexual violence, and enforced disappearances. In parallel, the process of documenting war crimes continues in Kosovo. We at IKKL collect evidence and testimonies, convinced that they form the basis for establishing justice, acknowledging guilt, and seeking institutional apology,” the statement says.

Highlighting the importance of confronting history, the reaction ends with the message that only an honest treatment of the past remains essential to building mutual trust and ensuring long-term peace in the region.

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