MR.MITROVIC MEETS WITH MR. ARIFI, WHO DISCUSSED SPP'S PARTICIPATION IN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

31. July 2020.

Bujanovac – The Mayor of Bujanovac, Nagip Arifi, and Nenad Mitrovic, the Head of the local board of the SPP (Serbian Progressive Party), talked yesterday about the participation of that party and its partners in the local government.

As Mr. Mitrovic said, the meeting was initiated by the strongest party in the local parliament, Mr. Arifi's Democratic Party.

“Mr. Arifi officially informed me for the first time that there is a clause in the coalition agreement of the Albanian parties on the participation of the Serbian parties in the local government. We did not talk about specific details today, but we scheduled the continuation of the talks for next week," Mr. Mitrovic said.

The Albanian parties already divided the positions among themselves, the councilors elected the Deputy Mayor and the President of the Assembly, and when asked if there was a "red line" under which the SPP would not agree to participate in the local government, Mr Mitrovic said:

"We adhere to the principle that 40% of power belongs to the Serbs. We have not yet talked about specific positions”.

He also said that he owed his entry into power to the citizens, who voted for the coalition around the SPP in the elections held on June 21, which, like Mr. Arifi's Democratic Party, won 10 mandates.

At the constitutive session of the Municipal Assembly of Bujanovac, which was held on July 23, four Albanian parties formed the majority of 25 councilors, when 13 councilors of the Serbian parties left the session.

Mr. Mitrovic said that he would boycott the Parliament until the Serbs get their representatives in the local government.

Source: Bujanovac News and Coordination Body