Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced a boycott of the EU-Western Balkan Summit set to take place in Tirana on 6 December and called Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti terrorist scum.
Kurti appointed Rasic, a little-known ethnic Serb and member of the Progressive Democratic Party, as head of the ministry, which Serbia says is unconstitutional. It comes after all members of the Serb List party resigned their mandates in protest over Pristina’s license plate policies.
“No one from Serbia will be in Tirana on 6 December,” Vučić said.
“They have chosen the worst Serb scum, people who have the respect of no one in Kosovo but who enjoy the confidence of terrorist scum Albin Kurti and of the Western agents who appointed them there, thinking they would thereby destroy and scare Serbia,” Vučić said in a comment he made to the pro-government Pink television.
About the EU, he continued, “You get your daily salary, travel by plane, make notes about how Serbia is guilty of something, and you can’t find anything that Serbia is guilty of. No problem, just do without Serbia, so let’s see what you will do and how.”
The summit will bring together EU countries plus all Western Balkan EU hopefuls to discuss enlargement and other issues facing the continent, which include the Russian war in Ukraine.
Vucic opposes the appointment of a Serb to the role who does not come from the Serb List and who has gone against the recent wave of resignations which also extends to police and state employees. Furthermore, it occurs amid declining interest in EU membership in Serbia and rising pro-Russian sentiments.
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Belgrade has refused to align itself with EU policy on Russia, and it continues to foster close ties and issue statements of support. This tension is exacerbated by ongoing issues with Kosovo and threats of action as Pristina attempts to assert its independence and sovereignty.
In a thinly veiled message to Kurti, he added, according to Kurir: “And to the terrorist scum, I say: Make sure you don’t hurt a single Serb, you and the quislings you have chosen. Because Serbs will know how to respond.”
“And to you in Europe, I say Shame on you,” he added.
