Shaip Kamberi, the sole ethnic Albanian representative in the Parliament of Serbia, has announced that a formal request for the dismissal of Minister Snežana Paunović has been officially submitted to Prime Minister Đuro Macut.
The parliamentary initiative, spearheaded by the Free Citizens Movement–SDA of Sandžak and the Party for Democratic Action (PDD), has been backed by the signatures of 53 opposition Members of Parliament.
The Core of the Dismissal Request
The motion demands that Prime Minister Macut immediately propose the removal of Paunović, the Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government, to the National Assembly.
- Justifying Ethnic Cleansing: Kamberi stated that the primary basis for the dismissal is Paunović’s public rhetoric, which explicitly justifies the ethnic cleansing and forced deportation of Albanians during the 1990s.
- A Test of Government Values: Kamberi emphasized that the Prime Minister has a direct institutional responsibility to act. “The Prime Minister must prove that there is no room in the Government of Serbia for a minister who defends the idea of expelling people based on their nationality,” Kamberi declared.
- The Burden of Inaction: The opposition warned that if Prime Minister Macut refuses to initiate the dismissal, he will carry the political weight of normalizing such extremist narratives within the Serbian cabinet.
Political Divisions and Coalition Standing
The petition has exposed deep lines of division within the Serbian Parliament, particularly among national minority parties:
| Political Group / Party | Stance on the Dismissal Initiative |
| Sponsors of the Motion | Initiated by the Free Citizens Movement–SDA Sandžak and the PDD, backed by 53 opposition MPs. |
| Justice and Reconciliation Party (Usame Zukorlić) | Refused to support the initiative (member of the governing coalition). |
| Social Democratic Party of Serbia (Rasim Lajić) | Refused to support the initiative (member of the governing coalition). |
| Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (Balint Pastor) | Refused to support the initiative (member of the governing coalition). |
Kamberi strongly criticized the minority parties within the ruling coalition for prioritizing their government partnerships over condemning rhetoric that promotes ethnic deportation.
