A day after a group of students from the University of Pristina condemned the use of university facilities by Srpska Lista for a campaign event, the university’s ProAktiv group has issued its own statement, echoing the criticism and appealing for urgent action from both domestic and international actors.
ProAktiv, an academic community group at the University of Pristina with a temporary seat in North Mitrovica, said the promotion of Srpska Lista inside the amphitheater of the Faculty of Technical Sciences violated the institution’s autonomy and ignored its highest legal acts, which ban political activities on campus.
“The safety and inviolability of our University’s academic space has been compromised by the promotion of a political party,” the group stated, urging university leadership to protect academic autonomy and act against political misuse of its premises.
ProAktiv condemned what it called the misuse of the University’s facilities for party purposes, specifically referring to Srpska Lista’s event on Saturday launching its campaign for the October local elections. The group said this was a continuation of similar abuses during previous election campaigns, calling on university leadership to “resist pressures” and restore the dignity and independence of the institution.
In its statement, ProAktiv also voiced strong concern over recent political developments, including the closure of the Serbian Pension and Disability Fund and the Health Insurance Fund offices in North Mitrovica last week, new Interior Ministry regulations on personal documents and vehicle plates, and heightened speculation over the integration of health and education sectors into Kosovo’s system.
They warned of an “information vacuum” and alleged behind-the-scenes negotiations between parties responsible for resolving the “complex and difficult situation” in Kosovo.
Calling recent actions by Pristina “unacceptable and contrary to democratic principles in a multiethnic society,” ProAktiv argued such measures undermine good neighborly relations and amount to “a perfidious form of intimidation” that deepens hardship for Serbs and other non-Albanian residents, accelerating their emigration.
The group also criticized the “unacceptable absence” of reaction from much of the international community and urged the Serbian government to move beyond issuing statements and take concrete steps through active diplomacy to support the population in Kosovo.
ProAktiv asked authorities to clarify how they intend to resolve legal and contractual issues for employees in education and health care working outside the Kosovo system—whom they say are now treated as foreign nationals without full labor rights. They cited recent remarks by U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Ana Pratipati and local officials Nenad Rašić and Veton Elshani on integrating health and education into Kosovo’s system as evidence that “our already dark reality could transform, under a veil of secrecy, into an absolute and irreversible disappearance from Kosovo and Metohija.”
Finally, they called on the Serbian government to provide a clear and transparent roadmap for the future of Serbian institutions in Kosovo, including health care and education, and to clarify the status and potential privatization processes under the planned Association of Serb-majority Municipalities.
“We invite all relevant institutions and individuals who hold accurate information to speak out, help defuse tensions, and support the survival of the Serbian and other non-Albanian population,” ProAktiv stated, urging concrete measures to address what it described as an “extremely difficult and crisis situation” on the ground.
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