Life in Kosovo Interviews Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni
This Thursday, Life in Kosovo interviews Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni.
Read more
Every Thursday starting from 20:30, Radio Television Kosovo, RTK, broadcasts the TV debate show "Life in Kosovo", a joint production of BIRN and RTK.
Read more
Kosovo factor delays formation of Serbian government
26 April 2007 Parties reluctant to form a cabinet because no one wants to be in office when Kosovo gets independence.
By Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade
Three months after the last parliamentary election in Serbia, the country’s politicians have less than three weeks to form a new government or face new elections.
The delay is not solely attributable to struggles over power-sharing. The political leaders are also dragging their feet because no party wants to be in power if Serbia “loses” Kosovo, following a United Nations decision expected in the coming months.
On Tuesday, the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party ordered its local branches throughout the country to start preparing for another round of voting.
“A coalition of [outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's] Democratic Party of Serbia with [the Democratic Party of President] Boris Tadic would lead Serbia right into the lap of those who are tearing Kosovo away from it, the European Union and the United States,” the party said in a statement.
“Elections at all levels are the best way to lead Serbia out of the crisis,” the statement added.
The party, led by the war crimes suspect, Vojislav Seselj, won most votes at the January 21 parliamentary election. But it did not win enough to rule alone, nor it could find a coalition partner.
Serbia has adamantly rejected the plan by the UN special envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, which envisions a form of internationally supervised independence for Kosovo.
Kostunica and his allies are now relying on Russia’s to veto the plan in the UN Security Council. But if Russia fails to torpedo the proposal, a future Serbian government might be obliged to implement its terms, infuriating Serbs who see Kosovo as their nation’s historic heartland.
“Kosovo is making a loud background noise and no one wants to form a government that would take responsibility for losing it,” James Lyon, a Belgrade-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, said.
Major Western powers, including the European Union and NATO members, are backing the Ahtisaari plan and saying more talks on Kosovo – which Serbia and Russia insist on – are useless.
But they are concerned that if Tadic and Kostunica do not form a pro-Western coalition and Kosovo gains its independence in the meantime, a new parliamentary election could produce bring the hardline Radicals to power.
“Parties from the so-called democratic bloc must realize that they have an obligation to keep Serbia on a pro-European track,” a Belgrade-based Western diplomat said.
“Kosovo is a story that is approaching the end one way or another and Serbian politicians should for once start caring about people’s welfare and not about power struggles,” the same diplomat added.
If no coalition wins the support of at least 126 deputies in the 250-seat parliament by May 14, President Tadic will be obliged to call new elections, Slobodan Vucetic, a former chief justice of the Constitutional Court, said.
Serbia also does not have a functioning parliament as the parties have not been able to agree on the appointment of a speaker or heads of committees.
If new elections are called after May 14, Kostunica’s caretaker cabinet could remain in power until mid-November, however, owing to the length of the deadlines set by the election law.
“Kostunica is not in a hurry. Why should he want to leave power when he can rule alone and does not have to be accountable to anyone,” Lyon asked.
In the meantime, the media is reporting that pro-democratic politicians are, in fact, hammering out a coalition deal following an allegedly secret meeting between Kostunica, Tadic and the former finance minister, Mladjan Dinkic.
“I believe they will ultimately form a government because it is in their mutual political interest; this is just wrangling over power sharing,” Nebojsa Spaic, of the Belgrade-based Spaic & Farmer think tank, said.
But Spaic agreed the long delay could also be attributed to politicians’ unwillingness to shoulder the burden of implementing a UN resolution on Kosovo’s independence. “Kosovo is a factor,” he said.
In last Sunday’s pro-government daily Politika, columnist Bosko Jaksic predicted that this reluctance to form a cabinet and take responsibility for the Kosovo issue could lead voters to swing towards the Radicals’ nationalist agenda.
“I greatly doubt our politicians’ sense of responsibility and cannot help but wonder why we now have no government, as the Kosovo issue goes into full swing,” Jaksic wrote.
Aleksandar Vasovic is BIRN Serbia editor. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.
Climate Change
This December, representatives of around 192 countries gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) to forge agreement on a Protocol determining how to collectively combat climate change. This will replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012, and hopefully correct its shortcomings.
Report on Kosovo`s Healthcare System
Monitoring report on all primary, secondary and tertiary (University Clinical Center of Kosovo, UCCK) healthcare institutions in Pristina, Prizren, Peja, Mitrovica, Gjilan, Ferizaj, Gjakova, Klina, Decan, Istog and Vushtrri.
BIRN Report on Monitoring the Education System
Report on monitoring the elementary and high schools in Prishtina: Mitrovica, Ferizaj, Peja and Gjilan
Analytical report of the situation and the problems in the University of Prishtina
REPORT: Monitoring the Courts
Monitoring the work and administration of courts in Prishtina, Peja, Mitrovica, Gjilan, Ferizaj, Vushtrri and Skenderaj
Read more
Download PDF
Buy DVD
Click here to buy a copy of 'Does Anyone Have a Plan?,' BIRN's feature-length documentary on Kosovo's final status.
"Life in Kosovo" debates also available on DVDs now!
Read more
Post Your Comments
Write your comment on BIRN debates and other activities.With the new web-site BIRN looks forward to receive direct opinions from our readers via comment section.
Read more
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
The opinions expressed in Balkan Insight are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.
Comments:
No comments have been posted.