Aleksandar Vucic keeps the conflict in North Kosovo simmering: the master of empty promises

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While the EU wants to proceed with the admission of Serbia, such images continue to shock: thousands of Serbian soldiers and artillery pieces take up positions on the border with North Kosovo. And every time the anxious question pops up: is there also war in the Balkans?

Whether it is a dispute over Kosovar car registration plates for Serb residents, whether Kosovo has tightened access rules for Serbs or, as is the case now, the appointment of Albanian mayors in Serb-majority communities in North Kosovo: alone in recent months, there have been more violent riots between the warring ethnic groups in the border region – and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (53) has put his army on high alert.

Serbia wants to join the EU and its millions

But the conflict never really escalated. Before Serbia fires all guns, the president de-escalates. First he shows his nationalist voters the iron hand of a strong Serbia, only to receive a pat on the back from the West for his efforts to detente. The Belgrade is a master of empty promises and a virtuoso dancer at all weddings.

Because Vucic doesn’t just want a nationalistic Serbia. He also wants EU accession, especially the EU millions. But that requires the rule of law, democracy and peace with Kosovo. This is what the six-foot-tall man promises in his speeches to the international world – and he gets applause. However, the reality is different.

Kosovo is still considered a breakaway province of Serbia

Aleksandar Vucic rules autocratically, censors the free press, firmly controls the mass media, judiciary and state power. His omnipotence is comparable to that of the Hungarian head of state Viktor Orban (59) or the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan (69). Kosovo is still considered a breakaway province of Serbia. Vucic never presented a serious solution to the conflict. He is also a friend of Putin, albeit unofficially. Traditionally, the Serbs feel culturally and religiously related to the Russians. 70 percent see no guilt for Russia in the war in Ukraine.

One look at the resume of the former reporter is enough to see on which side Vucic’s heart beats: the son of an economist and a journalist studied law in Belgrade and learned English in Brighton (Great Britain). On his return he became a journalist and covered the war in Bosnia.

In 1993, Vucic joined the Serbian Radical Party. In 1995, he demanded in parliament that 100 Muslims die for every Serb killed. From 1998 to 2000 he was Minister of Information under President Slobodan Milosevic († 65). Vucic recently described the former ruler, who had to answer for war crimes in The Hague, as a great Serbian leader. In 2008, Aleksandar Vucic switched to the Serbian Progressive Party. Since 2012, he has been chairman of the country’s largest party. He became Minister of Defense and then First Deputy Prime Minister. He served as Prime Minister of Serbia from April 2014 and was finally elected President in 2017.

Source: Blick