Belgrade Asks EU to Review Rule of Law in Kosovo

The Secretary-General of the Serbian Government, Veljko Odalovic, has sharply condemned the demolition of Serbian buildings at Gazivode, in northern Kosovo, calling it a continuation of pressure on the Serbian community in the province. Alongside the condemnation, Serbian officials asked the European Union to review how the judiciary functions in Kosovo, arguing that institutions in Pristina treat Serbian property under rules that are not applied equally to everyone.

Odalovic described the demolitions as a blow to Serbian heritage, saying they extend a policy of squeezing Serbs out of an area where they have lived for centuries. The message came as the reservoir on the Ibar river, one of the most important water resources in the north of the province, returned to the center of a dispute between Belgrade and Pristina over who controls the infrastructure and property in the area.

What Belgrade holds against the judiciary in Pristina

The heart of the Serbian objection is not a single ruling but a pattern. Belgrade argues that demolition decisions are taken and carried out without an equal standing for the Serbian side before courts and administrative bodies, and that Serbian property owners are left in a position where it is hard to defend their assets through ordinary legal means. The request addressed to the European Union points in exactly that direction, to check how the system works in practice, not only on paper.

Pristina, for its part, routinely defends its moves by pointing to legality and to the jurisdiction of its own institutions over the entire territory. That clash of two legal logics, the Serbian and the Pristina one, has shadowed the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue from the start, and Gazivode is now its most concrete expression, because it involves a resource that carries both symbolic and very practical, economic weight.

For the Serbian community in the north the message is unambiguous. Every demolished building is read as a signal that staying is not guaranteed, and it is precisely the survival of people on the ground that Belgrade places first in every statement. Odalovic’s reaction fits into a broader pattern of Serbian policy toward the province, in which each such move is read as part of a wider pressure rather than an isolated administrative act.

Why Gazivode is more than a lake

Gazivode is not an ordinary reservoir. Water from the system is used for supply, irrigation and cooling of energy facilities, so control over the dam and the shoreline carries weight that far exceeds a local property dispute. Whoever manages Gazivode also manages part of the energy and water security of the entire region, which is why every step in the area is weighed carefully in both Belgrade and Pristina.

That is also why the appeal to the European Union is more than a diplomatic gesture. Belgrade wants the outside actor leading the dialogue to assess whether the legal system in the province is applied equally to everyone, because without that trust it is hard to open space for any agreement on disputed property. The opposition in Serbia, meanwhile, has long warned that statements and condemnations without a concrete result on the ground remain just words, and that the balance of power in the north does not change through press releases.

One question cannot be avoided. Will the demand that the European Union review the work of the judiciary in Pristina bring a real check on the ground, or will Gazivode remain one more point of dispute that Belgrade and Pristina keep returning to without any movement?