Kosovo: MPs throw eggs at PM Mustafa in parliament

ANKARA

Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa was attacked with eggs in the Parliament on Tuesday while addressing MPs on the latest agreements with Serbia of which opposition parties strongly disapprove.

Kosovo MPs began throwing eggs at the prime minister while he insisted that the agreements with Serbia were in full compliance with the Kosovar constitution. Mustafa’s security guards rushed with an umbrella to shield Mustafa from the projectiles.

“Shame, shame, shame,” the Kosovo parliament speaker, Kadri Veseli, shouted at MPs throwing eggs as the session was broadcast live on national TV.

He also reacted strongly against security guards entering the assembly: “Who called you in? Get out please!” Veseli was forced to halt the parliamentary session.

Serbia and Kosovo signed on Aug. 25, four agreements, which covered “energy, telecoms, the establishment of association/community of Serb majority municipalities as well as the freedom of movement/Mitrovica Bridge”.

The decision to form the Association of Serbian majority municipalities in the predominantly Albanian Kosovo, was strongly decried by opposition political parties. They argue that this would lead to what they call the “Bosnization” of Kosovo, and thus creating a dysfunctional country.

Albanian media have quoted the Movement for Self-determination, the biggest opposition party in Kosovo, as referring to the Statistical Agency of Kosovo, according to which the association will have about 30 percent of Kosovo’s territory, while serving 74,000 people -- less than five percent of the population.

The Movement for Self-determination said this association would be a “state within the state”.

The Kosovo government has sent the agreement to the country's Constitutional Court to make sure it is in compliance with the constitution.

Kosovo is a former Serbian province populated by nearly 1.8 million people, over 90 percent of whom are Kosovo Albanians.

Kosovo declared its independence on Feb. 17, 2008 and is recognized by about 110 countries, including the U.S., the U.K, France, Germany and Turkey. Serbia, Russia and China are among countries that have not recognized the country's independence.