New Serbian Government Takes Hardline Stance In Negotiations - ADA News - March 1st, 2021

[Capt Boyle]

New Serbian Government Takes Hardline Stance In Negotiations

ADA News

March 1st, 2021


Negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo regarding mineral rights and ostensibly Kosovan sovereignty appear to have stalled after years of slow process over the past three years. Some more observers have even offered more pessimistic assessments and claimed that the talks had collapsed completely and were unlikely to restart anytime soon. Most blame the new lead negotiator on the Serbian side for the current stalemate and the statements by the new Serbian government.

 

Negotiations reportedly became heated over the matter of allowing Serbian police to operate in Kosovo.

 

The Serbian United People’s Party (SUNS) only came into power two months ago, riding a wave of national anger over economic stagnation and a massive corruption scandal with the previous government of Prime Minister Stefan Sunkić and the then-ruling Serbian Liberal Party (SLS). A largely sidelined party since its founding four years ago, the ultranationalist party found its footing when it led the charge calling for investigations into allegations of money laundering from government projects to members of the SLS. While originally dismissed by most, their accusations turned out to be true, which were then coupled with over five years of economic downturn led to mass resignations and snap elections being called. The SUNS won these in a landslide, with several attributing their appeal to many Serbs with their claims that Kosovo and Montenegro are rightfully Serbian territories. Since 2005, in an attempt to secure more international support and investment in the country, most Serbian parties dropped controversial stances on the territories, despite it remaining popular amongst the general population. Some newly elected members of SUNS have gone even further, with Darko Lajsić, a close associate of the new Prime Minister Radič Pucarević, stating “We lost our lands with the interference of NATO and European ‘humanists’ who would rather see a world without of Serbs than let us have an inch of our homeland”.

 

John Hackett

ADA News

[MSgt Falconer]

The whole of the Balkans is not worth the bones of a single MARSOC-Marine.