PRISTINA, Kosovo — The speaker of Kosovo’s parliament, Glauk Konjufca, took action on Thursday to expel several lawmakers from the ethnic Serb minority due to their frequent absences. This decision could escalate existing tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.
Konjufca accused the nine members of the Srpska List party of being provocative and wasting taxpayers’ resources by appearing only “once every six months.” He further alleged that these lawmakers were acting against the interests of Kosovo while reporting consistently to Milan Radoicic, a prominent Serbian politician and wealthy businessman who has links to the ruling party in Serbia as well as President Aleksandar Vucic.
Radoicic is currently facing charges that relate to a violent incident last year in Kosovo, where a police officer was killed amidst clashes involving armed Serb gunmen. During the parliamentary session, Konjufca expressed his disdain, stating, “Shame on you. The session is adjourned and I ask you to leave Republic of Kosovo’s Assembly.”
The expelled lawmakers complied and exited the hall, but journalists were unsuccessful in obtaining comments from them afterward. The Srpska List party holds a significant representation with nine out of the ten seats designated for the Serb minority in the parliament.
Recent escalating tensions were further fueled by a powerful explosion in northern Kosovo, an area predominantly inhabited by ethnic Serbs. This explosion disrupted water and power supplies across large portions of the region. Kosovo has pointed fingers at Serbia regarding the incident, a claim that Serbia has firmly denied.
The relationship between Kosovo and Serbia continues to be strained, despite ongoing efforts from the international community aimed at achieving normalization. Kosovo was once a Serbian province until NATO’s intervention in 1999 which halted a brutal conflict between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian separatists, resulting in approximately 13,000 fatalities, predominantly among ethnic Albanians, and the withdrawal of Serbian forces from the area.
In 2008, Kosovo declared independence, a move that has not received recognition from Belgrade. Nevertheless, both the EU and United States are pressing for the implementation of agreements made by Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti in early 2022, which include a commitment from Kosovo to create an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities. On the other hand, Serbia is anticipated to move towards the de facto recognition of Kosovo, which it still claims as its territory.
To manage the rising tensions, the NATO-led international peacekeeping force, known as KFOR, has increased its military presence in the region after a series of conflicts last year.
