Vučić: Kosovo does not want elections

(Patria) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that the authorities in Kosovo do not want elections.

"Let them do their job, but they don't want those elections, they don't want anything," Vučić said after attending the final phase of training of members of the Serbian Army at Pasuljanske Livade.

He added that he asks the international community to release the remaining Serbs from custody as soon as possible.

Vučić made this statement when asked to comment on the statement of Kosovo's Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi "that early elections should not be called in municipalities with a Serbian majority in northern Kosovo until the European Union (EU) lifts punitive measures."

The EU imposed measures against Kosovo at the end of June due to ignoring calls to take steps towards calming tensions in northern Kosovo.

The European Union announced on July 25 that it expects Kosovo to comply with all the demands listed in the statement of June 3, which relate to steps towards de-escalation in the north.

Bislimi said on July 24 in a conversation with journalists in Pristina that he expects an EU statement on lifting measures against Kosovo, after an agreement on de-escalation of the situation in the north was reached in Bratislava.

Bislimi and the EU Special Representative for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajčák, confirmed on July 10 the agreement on de-escalation. A day later, they presented the steps - withdrawal of 25 percent of the police from and around municipal buildings in the north, organization of early local elections at the end of summer, and return to the dialogue on normalization of relations.

Tensions in northern Kosovo escalated at the end of May, when Albanian mayors, with the help of police, entered municipal buildings in Zvečan, Leposavić, and Zubin Potok.

Serbs strongly opposed this because they do not accept the new mayors after the boycott of elections in April this year.

The European Union expressed readiness on June 3 to impose measures against Kosovo if all demands were not met.

The demands related to the suspension of police operations near municipal buildings in northern Kosovo, the removal of mayors from municipal facilities, and the calling of early elections.

The Serbian Assembly announced on July 21 that it suspends the work of the Inquiry Committee for establishing facts and circumstances of two mass murders in early May.

The parliament's statement said that this was done after a request from the attorneys of the families of the victims of the crime at the Belgrade elementary school "Vladislav Ribnikar".

The Serbian Assembly had previously formed an Inquiry Committee on July 18, which was supposed to establish the facts and circumstances that led to two massacres in early May at the elementary school "Vladislav Ribnikar" and villages near Mladenovac, in which 19 people lost their lives.

Vice-president of the opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) Marinika Tepić, who was elected president of the Inquiry Committee, stated on July 24 that the ruling majority in parliament suspended the work of the Inquiry Committee because they "panicked" over possible testimonies before that parliamentary body.

"Hiding behind the parents' request, the authorities thus wanted to hide their own mistakes," Tepić said at a press conference.

She then stated that neither the President of the Parliament Vladimir Orlić "nor the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić" have the authority to abolish the Inquiry Committee.

Tepić also reiterated that they will not "go against the will of the parents".

Nine children and a security guard were killed on May 3 in an armed attack by a 13-year-old student at the Belgrade elementary school "Vladislav Ribnikar".

A day later, in a separate incident, an attacker killed nine and wounded 14 people in the villages of Malo Orašje and Dubona near Mladenovac.