The Student List may have promised political change in Serbia, but its real test will be whether it breaks with Belgrade’s system of control over Kosovo or simply takes over the machinery built by previous governments. Replacing Vučić’s loyalists with new appointees will not represent change if the same parallel structures, political pressure and financial influence remain in place.
The possible dismissal of directors and heads of the so-called Provisional Authorities has exposed the uncertainty surrounding the future of this network. For years, the Serbian List has benefited from Belgrade’s political backing and dominated appointments in Serbia-run institutions in Kosovo.
Stefan Pavlović of the NGO MCEP told Veritasinfo that changes in Belgrade could seriously affect these political and administrative structures.
“For years, they have exercised dual and absolute power in Kosovo, received double salaries and maintained systems for blackmailing ordinary people. I assume they will now fiercely defend their status through the power they hold in Kosovo,” Pavlović said.
But the question is no longer only what Vučić’s people might lose. It is what the Student List intends to do with the system it could inherit.
Will it dismantle the parallel structures and end Belgrade’s interference in Kosovo, or will it simply replace the Serbian List’s officials with people loyal to the new political leadership? Will it investigate how public money has been distributed and whether it has been used to exert pressure on Kosovo Serbs?
The Student List cannot present itself as an alternative to Vučić while preserving the very mechanisms through which his government maintained influence in Kosovo. Political change in Belgrade must also mean a change in policy towards Kosovo.
Kosovo does not need Vučić’s old loyalists replaced by the Student List’s new loyalists. It needs Belgrade to stop running parallel structures on its territory. Otherwise, the promised political change will leave the same system of control untouched — only under new management.
