Kosovo urges EU to do more to condemn Serbian minister's "ethnic cleansing" statement

2026-07-18 14:40:28, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo urges EU to do more to condemn Serbian minister's "ethnic

The Kosovo government has urged the European Union (EU) to do more to condemn Serbian Minister Snezhana Paunovic's statement about "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo, saying the European bloc's initial response was "limited and delayed".

Paunovic - the Serbian Minister for Public Administration and Local Self-Government - told Serbian television Kurir last weekend that, if she had been in the place of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in 1998, she "would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo."

This statement sparked numerous reactions and Kosovo has already filed a lawsuit against her and permanently banned her from entering the country.

On Saturday, the Government of Kosovo announced that First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Glauk Konjufca, sent a letter to the EU High Representative, Kaja Kallas, to request a stronger reaction from the European club of which both Kosovo and Serbia aim to become a part.

In this letter, dated July 16, the Government of Kosovo asks the EU "to clearly and publicly condemn Minister Paunovi?'s statements, to make it clear to the Serbian authorities that such rhetoric is unacceptable and contrary to European values, and to address this issue seriously within the framework of political dialogue and Serbia's EU accession process."

Paunovi?'s statement has already been condemned by the EU, and the condemnation was repeated on Thursday by Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, saying she was surprised that she continues to remain a minister in the Serbian Government.

"I won't even repeat what she said. It was truly shocking to hear such a statement. I cannot imagine that a minister, after such a public statement, can continue to exercise her duty," Kos said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in Serbia, the country's president, Aleksandar Vu?i?, said that Paunovi?'s statement "does not reflect my will, nor that of the Government of Serbia", adding that "the policy of the Serbian state is dialogue, never ethnic cleansing".

Paunovi? - vice-chairwoman of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Miloševi?'s former party - did not retract her words, but said on July 16 that they were "taken out of context" and apologized to Vu?i? and the Serbian government for the reactions they caused.

On the other hand, the only Albanian MP in the Serbian Parliament, Shaip Kamberi, announced on Thursday that 53 opposition MPs have submitted a request to the Serbian Prime Minister, Gjuro Macu, for the dismissal of Paunovi?.

They asked Prime Minister Macu to, "without any delay," propose her dismissal to the Serbian Parliament.

It is not clear whether Macut will make such a proposal to the 250-seat Serbian Parliament.

Observers from Kosovo and Serbia told Radio Free Europe that Paunovi?'s statement is part of a political model of Serbia towards Kosovo, demanding that the international community not be satisfied with just reactions, but take concrete actions against Serbia.

Her statements touch on old wounds in Kosovo, as hundreds of thousands of Albanian civilians were expelled from Kosovo during the 1998-1999 war.

That war took the lives of over 13,000 civilians, mostly Albanians, while thousands more remained missing.

Over 1,500 people, mostly Albanians, are still missing.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague named the then leaders of the FRY as key participants in a “joint criminal enterprise” aimed at the forcible expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Albanian civilians from Kosovo in 1999.

According to the verdicts, the goal was to “change the ethnic balance to maintain Serbian control over Kosovo.”

The main defendant, Slobodan Milosevic, died in custody before the trial ended, while former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic was found not guilty./ Rel