The newly appointed Kosovo Minister of Agriculture, Dijana Zivic is a longtime member of the Independent Liberal Party (SLS) and enjoys the absolute support of this party, the SLS President Slobodan Petrovic stated during a press conference held in Gracanica today on the occasion of Zivic’s appointment.
He and his party stepped forward to the media on the third day since the appointment followed immediately by an avalanche of verbal attacks against Zivic by the rival Kosovo Serb party – Srpska lista and top Serbian state officials.
Dijana Zivic was appointed to the post of former minister and member of Srpska Lista, Nenad Rikalo. The top Serbian officials and Srpska Lista condemned the appointment, calling Zivic „a private Serb“, „a fictitious minister for whose party not even 5% of Serbs voted“, „uneducated“ and „unqualified“. They also accused her of organizing and participating in the „1 out of 5 million“ protest against the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic held in Gracanica.
Petrovic denied all allegations, recalling that SLS has been a parliamentary party for the last 12 years and that “it is quite normal for it to be part of the executive authority.”
„Dijana Zivic is at least 50 times more qualified and better than any minister proposed by Srpska Lista, and you are free to measure her or their expertise,“ Petrovic emphasized.
He also underlined that this is not the first time that a female minister was criticized, recalling the case of the former short term stay in the position of Minister for Local Administration, Mirjana Jeftic, a nominee from the Party of Kosovo Serbs, whose appointment was also harshly criticized.
When asked whether the SLS officials’ detainments at administrative crossings with Serbia, where they were questioned by the BIA (Serbian Intelligence Agency), were related to this new appointment, Petrovic replied:
„First of all, it’s the shame by those who did it. If someone was planning to cause some kind of fear or pressure in somebody, it absolutely did not bear fruit. I do not believe that anyone would be placed into such an uncomfortable and unpleasant situation again, but everything is possible.“
He believes that it might be connected, revealing that all those who were stopped and questioned were asked different questions, but all had one and the same question — whether this party would be part of the government if Srpska Lista left government.”
Asked to comment on the head of the Kosovo Office, Marko Djuric’s claims that „there will be no communication and cooperation… at all levels“ with Zivic, Petrovic replied that his statement speaks of his (Djuric’s) “irresponsibility” and the “irresponsibility of the policy he is representing.”
Minister of Agriculture, Dijana Zivic was not present at the conference, and she has not addressed the public yet. Petrovic excused her absence due to a meeting with ambassadors, which in the meantime was confirmed by the Ministry’s media alert.
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