CALL FOR THE ALBANIANS FROM SOUTH SERBIA TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS

Zoran Stankovic, the President of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja urged the Albanians living in the three municipalities to participate in the upcoming early elections and thus take part in the government.  Michael Davenport, the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, invited the leaders of the three municipalities to take advantage of all the opportunities for cooperation with other municipalities in South Serbia and abroad for the purpose of gaining a joint access to the EU funds.   

The President of the Coordination  Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, Zoran Stankovic, said at the debate on the beginning of accession talks between Serbia and the EU, which the EU Delegation to Serbia organized in cooperation with the Coordination Body, that participation in the elections, which are scheduled for March 16, was a chance  for the Albanians, too, because their participation in the state government could contribute to a faster resolution of their problems. 

The Albanian community in South Serbia mostly boycotted the parliamentary and presidential elections, although the "Coalition of the Albanians from the Presevo Valley” participated in the parliamentary elections on the last two occasions and had one seat in the Assembly of Serbia.  

Mr. Stankovic called on the Albanian leaders to stop the boycott of talks with the Government of Serbia, which occurred last November because of the Law on Court Seats and Units, by which Bujanovac got the General Court and the General Prosecutor's Office, while Presevo didn’t get them, which was required by the Albanians.  

"The problems are solved by talks, while the boycott hasn’t brought any results yet", said Mr. Stankovic.

Mr. Stankovic said that the Coordination Body, over the last 12 years, had forwarded from the national budget to the municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja around 70 million euros, and that the international community had forwarded another 35 million for the projects,  one of which was the construction of an out-patient maternity ward in Presevo.

"The construction and equipping of the maternity ward in Presevo was funded by the Government of Serbia, the EU Progress Program and the local self-government, and it will be the most modern maternity hospital in this part of the country ", said Mr. Stankovic.  

According to him, the construction of the building of the Subotica Faculty of Economics’ Department in Bujanovac, which was opened in 2011, didn’t start yet, although 1.2 million euros had been provided, because of legal and property problems with the plot where the department’s building is to be built.

The Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Michael Davenport, urged in Bujanovac the leaders of the three municipalities to take advantage of all the opportunities for cooperation with other municipalities in South Serbia and abroad for the purpose of gaining a joint access to the EU funds.

The panel discussion on the impact of Serbia's membership in the EU, which was held in Bujanovac, was attended by the President of the Coordination Body, Zoran Stankovic, the Mayor of Bujanovac, Nagip Arifi, the Director of the Office of Human and Minority Rights, Suzana Paunovic, the Chairman of the Commission for a Visa-free Regime, Nenad Banovic, and by the President of the Albanian National Council, Galip Beciri.

The Mayor of Bujanovac, Nagip Arifi, said that the municipality was planning to train some young, college-educated people, who would be responsible for contacts with the EU and for applying for the EU pre-accession funds. 

The Director of the Office of Human and Minority Rights, Suzana Paunovic, stressed that Serbia "has ratified all the international conventions on human and minority rights and it remains to implement them".  

Galip Beciri, the President of the Albanian National Council, said that the results of providing textbooks in Albanian would have been even better if the directors of secondary schools had been  more cooperative, as there was a possibility that the Ministry of Education would, at the  proposal of the Albanian National Council,  approve the import from Albania of the textbooks for vocational subjects in Albanian.  

The Chairman of the Commission for Monitoring the Visa-free Regime, Nenad Banovic, said he expected there would be no reintroduction of visas for the Serbian citizens traveling to the EU,  since the number of false asylum seekers from Serbia started decreasing. 

Source: RTS and Coordination Body