BELGRADE – Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government in the Government of Serbia, Snežana Paunović, caused strong domestic and international backlash this week after saying that she would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo in the 1990s.
On 11 July, Paunović said on the pro-government television Kurir that, if she had been in a position of Slobodan Milošević, she would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo in 1998, the year in which hostilities between the Serbian state and Kosovo Liberation Army escalated.
Paunović herself stems from Kosovo and, during her TV appearance, she recalled how her family was forced to leave following the war in 1999. She has been a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), founded and led by Slobodan Milošević, since the 1990s. SPS is now a junior coalition partner of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
The statement triggered strong criticism domestically and abroad, forcing the President of the National Assembly Ana Brnabić and President Aleksandar Vučić to state that it did not reflect the official government position. Paunović later apologised to Vučić and Prime Minister Đuro Macut because they were “baselessly called out” due to her statement.
Meanwhile, Ivica Dačić, leader of SPS and Minister of Interior, stood behind Paunović, calling attacks on her “shameful”. Dačić called all who criticised Paunović hypocrites for “staying silent for years to the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija”.
Domestic pushback
Following Paunović’s remarks, the National Convention on the European Union, the largest network of Serbian CSOs, assessed that Paunović’s statement constitutes hate speech and shows that those who uphold the criminal ideas of Slobodan Milošević – which led to mass human suffering, the bombing, and the devastation of the country – remain in power in Serbia.
“Those ideas, the statement adds, also resulted in numerous international and domestic war crimes convictions, the loss of control over Kosovo and Metohija following the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement, and lasting damage to the international reputation of Serbia and the Serbian people”, the statement reads.
Pro-EU opposition party MPs filed a request to the Prime Minister Đuro Macut on 16 July to immediately propose to the National Assembly the dismissal of Paunović. The request was supported by 53 MPs, falling short of the 60 needed to trigger a no-confidence vote in the minister formally. Nevertheless, the opposition claimed that the government has a political responsibility to react.
The student movement, which, according to the opinion polls, is the strongest opposition political actor in Serbia, also released a statement on 14 July condemning Paunović’s statement, calling it unacceptable and completely contrary to the Constitution, human rights, and the dignity of every individual.
“A minister in the Government of the Republic of Serbia represents the state and all of its citizens, including Albanians living in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. As a people who have themselves experienced persecution, ethnic cleansing, and suffering, Serbs have a particular moral obligation to unequivocally reject any call for such a policy”, the statement reads.
International criticism
On Thursday, the European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos described the statement as “horrific” and said she could not imagine the minister remaining in office after making such a public statement.
“It was horrific to hear something like that in 2026. I will not repeat what she said. I cannot imagine a minister continuing to perform her duties after making such a public statement,” Kos said in response to questions from lawmakers during a debate in the European Parliament’s Committee on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS).
Riho Terras, Member of the European Parliament and Rapporteur for Kosovo, called Paunović’s statement “disgraceful”, saying it destroys trust in the EU-facilitated dialogue.
Also on Thursday, the United Kingdom Embassy in Kosovo released a statement from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Spokesperson condemning the remarks, calling them “utterly abhorrent and without a place in today’s society”.
The statement also noted “President Vučić’s repudiation of these comments.”
Paunović declared persona non grata in Kosovo
On 14 July, Kosovo’s Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla announced that Paunović had been declared persona non grata and permanently banned from entering or transiting through Kosovo.
In a statement, Sveçla said the Serbian minister’s remarks confirmed what he described as “something Serbia has never abandoned – the project of ethnic cleansing of Albanians.”
“In our time, that was attempted by her former boss, Slobodan Milošević, also known as the Butcher of the Balkans,” Sveçla said, KoSSev reports.
On 16 July, Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, Minister of Justice of Kosovo, announced she filed a criminal report against Serbia’s Minister Snežana Paunović “following her utterly despicable and criminal statement”.
“If the world had any doubt that Serbia has not changed, that government is proof that it is high time for European and other Western leaders to see the reality in Serbia and to shield Europe and Serbia’s neighbors from this revival of ethnic and racist hatred, which has managed to engulf all levels of Serbian politics, up to the government and the president of this country”, Gërvalla-Schwarz said.
