President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić on Kosovo he hadn't been in seven years. The reasons for this are more or less unknown to the public. However, in almost every address he mentions Kosovo and Metohija as an inseparable part of Serbia, and that it is "beyond all politics".
At the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on September 24, he said that Kosovo "the main pillar of identity, culture and spiritual heritage" of Serbia.
"For us, Serbs, it is not just a piece of land, but the cradle of our spirituality and our existence on that land," said Vučić.
From the coming to power of the Serbian Progressive Party until today, nothing has been the same in Kosovo. What is the balance of action of Vučić's Kosovo policy?
"Hello, Serb!"
The first agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina was the Brussels Agreement, which was signed in 2013.
"The agreement is the only way for Serbia to survive, Serbia does not have another nation and will not invent another nation," Vucic said at the time and added that "Serbia will not recognize Kosovo's independence."
In that year 2013, local elections were held in Kosovo, when the coat of arms of the "Republic of Kosovo" appeared for the first time in the elections. Serbian municipalities were abolished and temporary bodies were established to replace them, which until recently performed the function of Serbian local self-governments.
After more than a decade of their work, in 2024 in the north of Kosovo, those bodies were closed, and at the beginning of 2025, the temporary bodies were also closed south of the Ibar.
Until 2022, there were Serbs in Kosovo institutions - in municipalities, police, judiciary and others. Today, this is mostly not the case.
The Serbian List was founded in 2013. In short, the connection between this party and Belgrade, i.e. the Serbian Progressive Party, could be described with a sentence previously used by journalist Sanja Sovrlić wrote for "Vreme": "Where Vučić is with an eye, there Srpska lista with a jump". And, in their headquarters, there is also a large framed photo of Aleksandar Vučić.
Year after year, a number of agreements were signed - the second Brussels Agreement, the Washington Agreement, the Ohrid Agreement.
A gift to another Kurti government
The second mandate of Kurti's government began in 2021, from then until today, the Pristina authorities implemented a series of actions and decisions, and Belgrade did not seriously oppose it.
In June of this year, Aljbin Kurti published on his Facebook account a list of implemented actions and decisions (albeit incomplete), claiming that this had achieved "progress in reducing the influence of Serbia".
According to the Serbian community, these actions were certainly not in the spirit of what the Pristina authorities swear by, namely "the rule of law and democracy". On the contrary. What was done?
In 2022, the Government of Kosovo refused to organize Serbian parliamentary/presidential elections in Kosovo. Then the Serbian community was ordered to vote by mail or in Serbia. Furthermore, a decision was made for the re-registration of "illegal Serbian plates on RKS plates".
In November 2022, the Serbian List called on all Serbs working in institutions to leave them until Pristina withdraws the decisions on re-registration of vehicles and forms the Association of Serbian Municipalities. Barricades in the north of Kosovo followed. However, none of those demands have been fulfilled to date, and the Serbian List ran for the upcoming local elections.
Due to the abandonment of institutions, extraordinary elections followed in four municipalities in the north. The Serbian List called for a boycott of those elections until the demands are fulfilled. However, Albanian mayors took over power with the minimum number of votes.
In May 2023, those mayors entered three municipalities in the north with Kosovo special units, shock bombs and tear gas. Then the Serbian flags were taken down from the municipalities and replaced with Kosovo flags. That was on the 26th and 29th of May. At that very moment, the Kosovo Serbs were not in their homes, but on a work assignment they were going to a meeting of the Serbian Progressive Party in Belgrade.
And then, a few months after that, on September 24 of that year, an armed conflict took place in Banjska between members of the Kosovo Police and Kosovo Serbs. Then Stefan Nedeljković, Igor Milenković and Bojan Mijailović were killed, as well as a member of the KP - Afrim Bunjaku.
After that, there was a change at the top of the Serbian list. The president of SL Goran Rakić and the vice-president Milan Radoičić were replaced. The epilogue is that Rakić is now a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and Milan Radoičić, who admitted that he led the action in Banjska, walks around Kosjerić and intimidates citizens.
Two years after the conflict, silence reigns on the streets of Banjska. Spa center Rajska banja is closed, and from the pool in that center today only the croaking of frogs can be heard.
Closure of institutions, abolition of the dinar
In 2024, the Central Bank of Kosovo abolished the Serbian dinar, stating that "payment can only be made in euros".
Students in Kosovska Mitrovica once said that when they entered the university, which was in 2019 and 2020, their parents sent them money by post. Today, this is not the case, because the branches of the Post of Serbia are closed, as well as the branches of the Poštanska štedionica Bank. That is why Serbs from Kosovo have to go to Raska or some other city in central Serbia to get salaries, pensions and "financial aid" from Belgrade.
A population census was conducted where citizens in the north claimed that the enumerators (from Kosovo) did not even visit them, but even if they did - some of them would not participate in the census.
In August of that year, Serbian driver's licenses in Kosovo also ceased to be valid. Citizens could exchange them for Kosovo ones or they would pay fines in the amount of 500 to 1.500 euros.
At the beginning of 2025, ten temporary authorities were closed south of the Ibar, the PIO Fund office in Gračanica, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, the offices of the Serbian Post and centers for social work. Soon after that, centers for social work were closed in the north of Kosovo as well.
The Official Gazette bookstore is also closed.
In Leposavic, 17 Serbian families received an eviction order from the municipality. Furthermore, several Serbian policemen were deported from Kosovo because they work for the Serbian MUP.
The Municipal Inspection of North Mitrovica entered the building of the PIO Fund and the Republic Health Insurance Fund (RFZO) and tore down all the Serbian flags, the employees had to leave the building, on which a tape was later placed.
From the first of October of this year, the Kosovo Law on Foreigners comes into force, which obliges "every person who is not a citizen of the Republic of Kosovo" to register their residence with the Kosovo MUP.
The remaining are the health and education systems, and by all accounts they are next for integration. The Belgrade authorities are silent about this.
