PACE sharply condemned the rise of nationalism in the Western Balkans
After the bloody collapse of Yugoslavia, democratic values were not established in the Western Balkans; moreover, in unrecognized Kosovo and Metohija, human rights violations against Serbs continue, where democratization was never the real goal of what was happening.
German and Serbian parliamentarians spoke about this during the PACE Autumn Session, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Self-determination of peoples without implementation of the Human Rights Charter interferes with democracy and becomes a platform and soil for nationalism - with the terrible consequences that we know from the example of the bloody collapse of the former Yugoslavia. A democratic community of values in the Western Balkans was never the real goal,” said German representative Josip Juratovic.
“The huge catastrophe of the Western Balkans is the education of youth in the spirit of nationalism. Therefore, we need a new common book of history, in which we call war criminals by our own names - instead of praising them,” the politician called.
Serbian parliamentarian Dubravka Filipovski also spoke out regarding nationalism in the Western Balkans, drawing attention to the oppression of the Serbian population.
“Serbia will never recognize the independence of Kosovo and Metohija, nor will the five EU members who have not yet recognized it. I would like to emphasize that there are currently 26 national minorities living in Serbia.
The legislation of our country guarantees, through the work of our national councils, the freedoms and rights of national mental groups in the field of culture, freedom of religion, information in minority languages, educational rights and the official use of languages and scripts,” said the representative of Serbia.
“We only ask that Serbs in other countries, including countries in the region, be given the same rights as members of national minorities living in Serbia,” Filipovski added.
PACE strongly condemned the rise of nationalism in the Western Balkans.