Eurasia Press & News
The European proposal on Kosovo is good and it is good that Aleksandar Vučić wants to accept it, because it is the path to the European Union (EU), lawyer Sead Spahović said in an interview with FoNet, indicating that Serbia cannot return Kosovo.
Kosovo is a country. What kind of sovereignty problem do they have? They don’t have any problem, they have a constitution, institutions, territory and the people who live there, explained Spahović in the Kvaka 23 series.
“The fact that they are not in the United Nations (UN), and even Yugoslavia was not in the UN when it was expelled during the time of Milosevic, but the question of whether it is a state or not was not raised,” he reminded in a conversation with Zoran Sekulić and assessed that it is not the main characteristic of the state that it is a member of the UN.
Another thing is that Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo, that’s fine, but Palestine doesn’t recognize Israel either, so Israel exists. These are hollow arguments, pointed out Spahović and pointed out that “riding on patriotism is a profession here for 35 years”.
Referring to the opinion that the President of Serbia is committing an unconstitutional and illegal act and that he is breaking his oath, he interpreted that accepting the European proposal is not an unconstitutional act and that Vučić is doing his best to ensure that Kosovo remains part of Serbia.
“I don’t see any criminal responsibility and, in general, that story about betrayal, to put it bluntly, it’s nonsense,” said Spahović.
According to him, the Constitution adopted during the time of Vojislav Koštunica with the preamble that Kosovo is part of Serbia was adopted seven years after Serbia “exited” from Kosovo.
“Which constitution is valid in Kosovo? Serbian or Kosovo constitution? In the preamble, it is written that the state authorities of Serbia are obliged to fight for the interests of Serbia in Kosovo. Well, there is no state body there. Then it means that all state bodies violate the Constitution, if that preamble is a constitutional obligation. Well, that’s funny,” Spahović said.
Asked about the position of the Serbian community in Kosovo, he replied that “The community of Serbian municipalities and, in general, the Serbian minority in Kosovo, must be under protection. and the Kosovo constitution and the Kosovo authorities and the international community.
There is no discussion, that is as clear as day, Spahović pointed out, but he noted that Kosovo should not be viewed in isolation, because everywhere in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, “the problem is of minorities who are instructed by the mother country”.
As he illustrated, it’s a problem in North Macedonia, it’s a problem in Montenegro, it was a problem in Croatia too, “let’s not talk about the Republika Srpska, and that’s what the Albanians are afraid of – the Republika Srpska”.
“Minorities are being manipulated and this government is not doing anything special, that’s what every government did, even Milošević did that. All Serbs in one state, that was possible only in Yugoslavia, it cannot be done otherwise,” said Spahović.
When asked whether the European proposal on Kosovo is in accordance with Resolution 1244, he replied that “reality went further than that” and stated that since the departure of the Yugoslav army from Kosovo, it is clear that Belgrade has no sovereignty there.
People here “are guided by emotions and that patriotism, while common sense is on the defensive”, said Spahović and emphasized that there will be nothing of a frozen conflict, because Kosovo will go its own way.
That frozen conflict is the obsession of the patriotic bloc, the whole, everyone. To freeze the conflict, why? Because we cannot enter there with tanks, that’s it, believes Spahović.
Noting that the patriotic bloc brought together people of different ideological orientations, he estimated that all Serbs agree on Kosovo and Srebrenica.
As he explained, there is no need for any special unification around these topics, since at least 95 percent of the people here have a “general program – we must not recognize Kosovo, we must not recognize Srebrenica.”
That unification has always existed, said Spahović, who believes that Dobrica Ćosić and Vojislav Šešelj had the greatest influence on the ideology and attitudes of Serbian citizens from 1945 until today.
Asked if it suits Russia that Serbia finds a solution for Kosovo, he said that he would like Serbia not to answer to the Russians, but he thinks that it suits them.
“They control a lot from the inside. The Russian ambassador here is the Deputy Prime Minister. He pulls out his ears and calls for conversations, says what will happen. I think that the Russian utcaj in the Balkans is the bane of this area,” emphasized Spahović, who hopes that Serbia will still impose sanctions on Russia.
Despite that, I don’t believe that the Russians will renounce Serbia, said Spahović and ironically noted that “they will agree that Serbia imposes sanctions on them and they will understand that”.
On the other hand, he is convinced that 90 percent of the people here support the Russians in the Ukrainian war and claims that “there is no one who supports Putin but does not support Ratko Mladić”.
Spahović thinks that the West remembered late that it was reacting to the Russian influence in Serbia, which “went far”, which he compared to Tomislav Nikolić’s former statement that “the child grew up and became independent”.
When it comes to solving the problem of Kosovo, he claims that Vučić is currently “in the greatest possible opposition, because he would like to solve something, but the people and these patriots are not giving him anything.”
When asked how he will succeed in changing the narrative about Kosovo and Russia, which he himself created for the past ten years, Spahović answered that “the radicals are the only party in Serbia whose leader is always the one who is the smartest there”.
“It used to be Seselj, now it’s Vučić. That question was also asked when Tito turned against Stalin in 1948. “He had power, he had influence, he had the media, he had a party… Vučić has all of that, he can do whatever he wants, it’s no problem,” Spahović said.
Asked if that puts the sign of equality between radicals and progressives, he answered in the affirmative and added that he doesn’t know anyone who doesn’t put the sign of equality between them, because “it’s the same” as between the Socialist Party of Serbia and the League of Communists.
Spahović sees the policy of the opposition patriotic bloc towards Kosovo as disastrous, while among the pro-European parties of the opposition, he singles out only the Civic Democratic Forum, but claims that the civil opposition in Serbia today has less than one percent of support.
He thinks that even elections would not change anything fundamentally when it comes to solving the problem of Kosovo, because there is no one to change it, “this will be like this, this people is for this, everyone is for a frozen conflict”.
He does not suggest that we reconcile with the existing situation, but that we understand that this is legitimate and that “the people want it”.
“You constantly present yourself as if the people are not guilty of anything, as if they have no idea, but are being driven crazy by Vučić and this or that. It’s not true. The people know everything and the people want it, they want Milosevic, they want a greater Serbia, they want tanks in Kosovo, they want the death penalty – that’s what the people want,” Spahović claims.
When asked if the idea of democracy in Serbia has any chance at all, he replied that maybe it has a chance, but that it has no tradition and that we should go to Europe in order for democracy to get that chance.
There is democracy in Europe, not in Vietnam, not in China, not in Russia. If we talk about wanting democracy, it is in the West, emphasized Spahović.
According to his view, in our country democracy is not the will of the majority, in our country individuals are democrats, while the majority is undemocratic, totalitarian, anti-Western, anti-individual, anti-modern, Slavophile and Russophile.
Spahović doesn’t know if Europe will allow us to remain a “black hole” in the Balkans, even if we wanted to, but he would like to put us under his umbrella and for “things to happen against our will, if possible.”
As he specified, he would like and support it “to be everything that we don’t like”, but he thinks that in the end the majority will decide that “we like what is not good for us”.
