Kosovo Serbs end parliament, govt boycott

PRISTINA: Kosovo Serbs said on Monday they were ending a six-month boycott of both parliament and government, justifying the move by the need to protect their minority’s interests.

The boycott, supported by Belgrade, was triggered last October by Kosovo’s decision to turn a mining conglomerate, in a tense north populated mostly by ethnic Serbs, into a state-run company.

But Serbs claim that Trepca is Serbian property, arguing that Belgrade invested in it while Kosovo was its southern province and thus opposing the company’s transformation.

Ethnic Serbs said they were ending the boycott to protect their interests to "prevent that (ethnic Serb) citizens remain isolated," said Slavko Simic, head of the Serb List, the Kosovo Serbs’ main political group.

"We are returning to institutions, the place where we can obtain the creation of the association of Serb municipalities and prevent creation of a Kosovo army," he told reporters.

Ethnic Serbs are hoping to be allowed to form an institutional body, an association of municipalities, but Pristina has blocked the idea.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci’s plans to create a national army, meanwhile, would spark anger among ethnic Serbs and in Belgrade and Nato said earlier this month such a move would be "unhelpful." Since Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war with Serbia, Nato-led multinational troops have been deployed in the territory but it is not allowed its own army in accordance with a UN resolution.

Kosovo Serbs are part of a ruling coalition and without their cooperation the government does not have the two-thirds majority needed to take decisions necessary for the territory’s integration into the European Union.

Kosovo, overall population 1.8 million, is home to some 120,000 ethnic Serbs. The Serb List has 10 seats in the 120-strong parliament and three members of the cabinet, including a deputy prime minister. The ethnic Albanian majority proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008.