The diplomatic crisis engulfing the Serbian government has intensified following fierce international condemnation and calls for the immediate resignation of Minister Snežana Paunović. The furor centers around her public assertion that she would have “ethnically cleansed” Kosovo in 1998 had she been in Slobodan Milošević’s position.
While the European Union warns that the scandal threatens to freeze Serbia’s EU accession bids, domestic critics argue that the minister simply exposed the ruling coalition’s true, unvarnished ideology.
The Backlash: EU Warns Serbia’s Accession Cluster 3 is at Risk
The European Union issued a stern rebuke, stating that “there is no place in Europe for rhetoric that justifies and promotes ethnic cleansing.” The bloc emphasized that such statements violate the explicit commitments Serbia made under the EU-facilitated dialogue with Kosovo.
The Defiant Stance: Paunović and Dačić Double Down
Rather than walking back her statements or issuing a clarification, Minister Paunović released a highly combative follow-up statement, fiercely defending her party’s wartime legacy:
“I do not give up on the policies of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), which led Serbia through extremely difficult historical circumstances… I do not give up on my party’s strategies, which were chosen under the conditions of an armed uprising in a part of the house called Serbia.”
— Snežana Paunović, Minister of State Administration
In a move to shield his colleague, Deputy Prime Minister and SPS leader Ivica Dačić slammed the international outrage as hypocritical. Dačić attempted to deflect the criticism by claiming that “ethnic cleansing was actually carried out against Serbs in Kosovo, but nobody cares about that,” actively engaging in historical relativism.
Analyst View: A Regime Regretting Unfinished Atrocities
Dragan Popović, Director of the Center for Practical Politics, told Deutsche Welle (DW) that the public should not view this as an accidental gaffe, but rather as a true reflection of the ruling elite’s mindset.
- A Secret Desire Made Public: Popović argued that Paunović simply blurted out what the ruling majority genuinely believes. “They are essentially expressing regret that the ethnic cleansing didn’t succeed,” Popović noted, reminding the public that the top Yugoslav and Serbian military and police leadership were convicted by the ICTY in The Hague precisely for mass killings and systematic expulsions of Kosovo Albanians.
- The Danger of Dačić’s Experience: While Paunović might be dismissed by some as politically clumsy, Popović warned that Dačić’s defense is far more dangerous due to his vast political experience, acting as a deliberate effort to normalize historical atrocities.
- A Glorification of the 1990s: Popović warned that President Aleksandar Vučić’s Progressive Party (SNS) and Dačić’s SPS are actively resurrecting the radical ideologies of the 1990s under new global circumstances, pushing Serbian society toward a dangerous threshold of verbal and physical violence.
