Srpska Lists MP: I apologise, my position on Thaci’s visit does not differ from the official position of my party

Srpska List MP, Zoran Mojsilovic, apologized to his Serb constituency today for his “imprudent” statements regarding the unannounced visit of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci to Zubin Potok last weekend. Speaking at the meeting of the parliamentary Committee on internal affairs, security and oversight of the Kosovo Security Force, Mojsilovic said that Thaci’s visit was “seen as a part of political process and dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina” and that „nothing happened“.

The Wednesday meeting of the parliamentary Committee on internal affairs, security and oversight of the Kosovo Security Force brought news that a package of laws for the transformation of the KSF into the Kosovo Armed Forces was adopted by this committee and forwarded to the Parliament for a first reading.

However, for the Kosovo Serb community the meeting was also marked by the statement by Zoran Mojsilovic, a Kosovo Serb MP from the Srpska Lista party and the Vice Chairman of this committee. While commenting on the visit of the Kosovo President Hashim Thaci to the Brnjak crossing and Lake Gazivode last Saturday he said:

“The most important thing is that everything went without incident, nothing happened. We were all a bit upset by the unannounced visit, but we all see it as a part of a political process and dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.”

The statement resounded quite differently than the statements given on the same matter by other Srpska Lista representatives, including the President of the party, Goran Rakic:

“Let there be known that Serbs will never again allow such an intrusion to happen. We will, together with our people defend our freedom, life and our property, because Gazivode is Serbian,” said Rakic on Saturday after Thaci’s visit and added that Thaci came to the North “like a mouse to provoke the Serbian people“ and that will happen again „when hell freezes over”.

His counterpart in Zubin Potok, Stevan Vulovic, labelled Hashim Thaci as „scum“, „a thug“ and „a criminal“ before TV Pink cameras.

After Mojsilovic’s statement made on Wednesday that was originally broadcasted by RTK2, it was a day later picked up by KoSSev and then broadcasted by Belgrade-based media, to be followed the same day by Mojsilovic who issued a statement apologising for his views that were seemingly opposing to the established position of his party:

“My imprecision was not a reflection of ill intent, but of imprudence, which has, as I am well aware, offended some of my compatriots, friends and colleagues. I am aware that Srpska Lista and its highest representatives have explicitly condemned the unannounced invasion of special units of the Kosovo police in the Zubin Potok municipality and my position on this event does not differ from the official position of my party.”