Despite being adopted by Serbia’s previous government last October, two bills concerning Kosovo have quietly been withdrawn from parliamentary procedure—along with 41 other legal acts—by the newly appointed government led by Prime Minister Đuro Macut.
The withdrawn bills aimed to designate Kosovo as an area of special social protection and to establish a judicial body to prosecute those who violate the rights of Kosovo Serbs, including Serbs themselves, as announced by President Aleksandar Vučić last September amid a fresh political crisis in northern Kosovo following the closure of Serbian institutions in the area.
Although the previous government formalized the proposals and submitted them to parliament on October 29, 2024, the new cabinet informed the National Assembly on April 17—just a day after it was sworn in—that it would be retracting all pending legislation submitted by its predecessor.
KoSSev obtained a document listing the 43 withdrawn acts. Among them were the two Kosovo-related bills, officially titled: The Law on the Organization and Jurisdiction of Judicial Authorities for the Prosecution of Criminal Offenses Committed in the Territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, and The Law on Declaring the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija an Area of Special Social Protection.
The government’s decision triggered a wave of online backlash. Social media users criticized the move, calling it a betrayal of Vučić’s earlier rhetoric. One post on the platform X read:
“Macut’s government withdrew the law on trying Albanians from Kosovo and Metohija and the law declaring Kosovo a special social protection zone. Vučić declared these urgent on September 13, promising their adoption in 45 days. Now, 250 days later, they’ve been scrapped.”
Other users dismissed the original announcements as propaganda, accusing the government of using the crisis to score political points without follow-through. “Of course this was expected,” one user wrote. “The media will remember the announcement, not the quiet withdrawal.”
Routine or Retreat?
Biljana Đorđević, MP from the Green-Left Front, told KoSSev that withdrawing legislation after the formation of a new government is standard parliamentary procedure. “All 43 acts proposed by the previous government have been withdrawn,” she said. “This is a regular practice. The new government decides whether to reintroduce them.”
Still, Đorđević noted that the two Kosovo-related bills were not included on the parliamentary agenda in November and March. “They could have been, if the ruling majority had wanted it,” she added.
She also recalled that a long-standing request from opposition MPs for an emergency session on Kosovo was ignored by the former Speaker, Ana Brnabić. “That session never happened, even though it was requested by 80 MPs,” Đorđević said, linking the government’s avoidance of debate to a broader strategy of evasion following the tragic collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people just two days after the bills were submitted to parliament.
A Shift in Tone
The initial push for the two laws came after President Vučić vowed to protect Serbs in Kosovo following rising tensions. At the time, he outlined a five-point response plan, including the creation of a special judicial body and Kosovo’s designation as a protected zone.
That rhetoric has since all but vanished. With control over northern Kosovo increasingly consolidated by Pristina, including the shutdown of dinar-based payment systems and the takeover of municipal buildings, the Serbian government’s symbolic declarations have seemingly yielded little tangible response.
Vučić has maintained his opposition to officially declaring Kosovo an occupied territory—an act he claims would imply recognition—but he previously promised to seek NATO’s permission to return Serbian security forces to Kosovo. Whether such a request was ever formally submitted remains unclear.
Political Theater or Policy Pivot?
Critics argue that the swift withdrawal of the bills confirms suspicions that the original announcements were designed for domestic political consumption rather than practical implementation. As hospitals and schools remain among the last Serbian institutions operating in Kosovo, the government’s actual leverage is increasingly limited.
According to Đorđević, the regime’s priorities have never truly been about Kosovo, but to deflect attention and avoid accountability, “particularly after the Novi Sad tragedy that exposed deep-rooted corruption,”
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