Marko Djuric, the Director of Serbia’s Government Office for Kosovo has called on the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista (Serbian List) party to stay out of the “Albanian-Albanian” political crisis currently engulfing the country.
Srpska Lista had backed the no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Albin Kurti which resulted in the toppling of the 51-day-old Kosovo government. Djuric claimed that by backing the vote, they had not closed the door on cooperation with those who wanted better relations with Serbia.
Vice President of Srpska Lista, MP Igor Simic had announced prior to the vote that all ten of his MPs would be voting against Kurti in the motion filed by the Democratic League of Kosovo.
Simic told Parliament that “When it comes to the government’s work we have too many objections. First is the decision not to abolish taxes…and the other thing is that this government didn’t show a minimum of respect for the Serbian people, that is, for the representatives of the Serbian List…”
Relations between Serbia and Kosovo remain strained as the former refuses to recognise the latter as a country. Despite this, Serbian politicians including Srpska Lista have taken part in every election that has been held since Kosovo’s independence.
