Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has defended the Minister of State Administration, Snezhana Paunovic, for her fascist statement against Kosovo.
Paunovic, in an interview for "Kurir", stated that if he were in Slobodan Milosevic's place in 1998, he would have carried out ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. However, according to Dacic, the reaction to it is shameful and hypocritical.
"I want to say that it is shameful that until now I have never heard words from domestic politicians condemning the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo. In conditions where even today we have forced emigration of Serbs from Kosovo, changes in the ethnic structure, not to mention the centuries-old pressure, emigration and expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo, people still talk about this in Serbia and accuse us of alleged ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," said Dacic, announcing that we are reacting as the deputy prime minister of the state.
According to him, 240 thousand Serbs were expelled from Kosovo in 1999 and less than 10 thousand of them have returned, according to a statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Dacic has repeated the claim that historically "Kosovo has been the territory of Serbia."
"And now Snezhana Paunovic is guilty of ethnic cleansing? Shame. She said that all those who do not feel Serbia should return to their country of origin, the state of Albania. What kind of ethnic cleansing is this when there are fewer Serbs than Albanians? How can this be? Well, the Holocaust did not end with more Jews than before the Holocaust. So it is legitimate to persecute and kill Serbs, to say that Serbs should leave, to expel Serbs, and it is not legitimate to say anything in defense of Serbia," Dacic said.
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Paunovic said in the interview that, according to her, the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo would have prevented "the NATO bombings, the suffering of the Serbian people, the subsequent pogrom, the declaration of independence and the events that followed."
Her statements prompted a backlash from several opposition parties in Serbia. The League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) called her fascist, demanding her dismissal. The Center Party of Serbia also called on Prime Minister Đuro Macu to resign and issue a statement.
During the day, the European Union also called on politicians in Serbia to refrain from inflammatory statements and respect the obligations of normalizing relations with Kosovo. This was stated by the EU's foreign policy spokesperson, Anita Hiper.
