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A member of the Serbian government has publicly said she would have "ethnically cleansed" Kosovo in 1998 had she been in Slobodan Milošević's place. Nearly a week and a wave of condemnation later - from opposition parties, civil society, students, Kosovo and the European Commission - Snežana Paunović is still the minister of public administration and local self-government. That is the real scandal: not only that the words were spoken in 2026, but that the state has treated them as a communications problem to be managed rather than a red line that was crossed.
What she said
Appearing on Kurir TV on 11 July, speaking about the war in Kosovo and her own departure from Peć, Paunović offered what she herself called "the harshest thing I have ever said in my life":
"Had I been Slobodan Milošević, I would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo in 1998. And this is the harshest thing I have ever said in my life. But not by liquidating them, or the way they are still trying to ethnically cleanse Kosovo. Rather, in a way where anyone who feels less like a resident of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia leaves it and goes to their home country. And those who opted for terrorist actions get liquidated the way terrorists are dealt with today."
There is no charitable reading of this. A minister of the Republic of Serbia described the forced removal of people on the basis of ethnicity as something she would have carried out, and framed "liquidation" as an acceptable response. The self-awareness that it was "the harshest thing" she had ever said did not stop her from saying it - or, later, from standing behind it.
"I do not renounce the policy of the SPS"
Instead of retracting, Paunović doubled down. In a written statement she made clear she stands by her party:
"I do not renounce the policy of the SPS. We are a party that led Serbia through indescribably difficult historical circumstances, a party that made great sacrifices, a party whose name was most often mentioned in The Hague, a party that begged no one for anything in order to remain upright and faithful to its ideas."
She added that she does not renounce "the strategies of my party that were chosen for the circumstances of an armed rebellion" and defended her "right to speak about the mistakes we made." That a party's name being "most often mentioned in The Hague" is offered as a point of pride, rather than a fact demanding reckoning, tells its own story.
Condemnation at home
The reaction from Serbia's democratic public was swift and unambiguous. The National Convention on the EU working group for Chapter 35, which brings together numerous NGOs, called the statement hate speech and asked Prime Minister Đuro Macut to dismiss her under urgent procedure, warning that it shows "the guardians of Slobodan Milošević's criminal ideas" remain in power. The group also called on SPS president Ivica Dačić to publicly distance himself and expel Paunović from the party.
The Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) described the statement as "conscious advocacy of ethnic expulsion" and raised the prospect of criminal liability under Article 317 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits inciting national, racial and religious hatred. Serbia Centre (SRCE) called it a return to "the darkest periods of recent history." The students in blockade said the message was inadmissible and contrary to the Constitution, human rights and basic democratic values.
The Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) described the statement as "conscious advocacy of ethnic expulsion" and raised the prospect of criminal liability under Article 317 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits inciting national, racial and religious hatred. Serbia Centre (SRCE) called it a return to "the darkest periods of recent history." The students in blockade said the message was inadmissible and contrary to the Constitution, human rights and basic democratic values.
The European Commission responds
The statement did not stay within Serbia's borders. On 14 July, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said she was shocked:
"There can only be zero tolerance for such statements. In Europe there is no place for rhetoric that justifies, advocates and glorifies ethnic cleansing."
Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper reinforced the point, saying such statements run counter to the values of human dignity, reconciliation, accountability and good-neighbourly relations on which the EU is founded - and to the commitments Serbia took on in the EU-facilitated dialogue on normalising relations with Kosovo.
Two days later, on 16 July, Kos returned to the subject before the European Parliament's Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield, and made explicit what she thinks:
Two days later, on 16 July, Kos returned to the subject before the European Parliament's Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield, and made explicit what she thinks:
"It was astonishing to hear something like that in 2026. I cannot imagine that a minister, after such a public statement, can continue to perform her function."
She was, in other words, openly surprised that Paunović was still in office.
Kosovo declares her persona non grata
On 14 July, Kosovo's acting interior minister Xhelal Sveçla announced that Paunović had been declared persona non grata, with a permanent ban on entering or transiting Kosovo. He called her statement a continuation of "a state policy that for decades produced violence, crimes and attempts to eliminate Albanians from their lands."
The government distances itself - without acting
Here the official response reveals its own logic. President Aleksandar Vučić said on 15 July that the statement reflected neither his will nor that of the government, and that Serbia's policy is "dialogue, compromise, conversations, and never ethnic cleansing." Parliament speaker Ana Brnabić likewise said it does not reflect official state policy - while adding that Paunović is "herself a victim of ethnic cleansing" and spoke "from that angle."
That framing became the government's shared defence: condemn the words, excuse the person, change nothing. Interior Minister and SPS president Ivica Dačić went further, calling the criticism "shameful and hypocritical" and accusing critics of staying silent about the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo. At no point did the distancing translate into the one act that would have mattered - her removal from office - nor into any break with the state policy of the 1990s that led to ethnic cleansing in the first place.
That framing became the government's shared defence: condemn the words, excuse the person, change nothing. Interior Minister and SPS president Ivica Dačić went further, calling the criticism "shameful and hypocritical" and accusing critics of staying silent about the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo. At no point did the distancing translate into the one act that would have mattered - her removal from office - nor into any break with the state policy of the 1990s that led to ethnic cleansing in the first place.
A conditional apology
Under pressure, Paunović appeared on Informer TV and said her statement had been "taken out of context," complaining that "only seven seconds of the whole show" had been pulled out. Notably, she apologised - but to President Vučić, the government and Prime Minister Macut, for being "named though neither guilty nor responsible." She offered no apology to the Albanians whose forced removal she had described, and reaffirmed that she was proudest of the support she received from the SPS.
Parliament: 53 signatures, seven short
The attempt to hold her accountable through institutions fell just short. Fifty-three opposition MPs - from PSG, SDA of Sandžak, the Party for Democratic Action, the Green-Left Front, the Freedom and Justice Party, Serbia Centre, the People's Movement of Serbia, New Face of Serbia and the Ecological Uprising, plus independent MP Slavica Radovanović - signed a request for her dismissal. A no-confidence motion needed 60 signatures; they gathered 53, seven short. They then submitted the request directly to the prime minister, arguing that failing the formal threshold does not diminish either the minister's responsibility or the prime minister's obligation to act.
What the court established
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia established as fact that hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians were expelled as part of a joint criminal enterprise of Serbia's political and military leadership. Slobodan Milošević, president of Yugoslavia and of the SPS, died during his trial - but those convicted with final effect for these crimes include Nebojša Pavković, Sreten Lukić, Dragoljub Ojdanić and Vladimir Lazarević, and among them a senior SPS official, Nikola Šainović, who to this day sits on the party's Presidency.
What that meant on the ground is set out in the indictment in the Milutinović et al. case:
What that meant on the ground is set out in the indictment in the Milutinović et al. case:
"From around 1 January 1999 and continuing until 20 June 1999, forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia perpetrated numerous crimes which resulted in the forced deportation of approximately 800,000 Kosovo Albanian civilians.
To facilitate these expulsions and displacements, armed units of the FRY and Serbia deliberately created an atmosphere of fear and oppression through the use of force, threats of force and acts of violence. Attacks on civilians followed a pre-determined pattern that involved the shelling of towns and villages, destruction of residential and religious buildings, the killing of women, children and men not directly involved in hostilities and sexually assaulting Kosovo Albanian women. Those actions were carried out across Kosovo and the same intentional means and methods were used throughout the province.
The expulsion of Kosovo Albanian civilians was carried out with the aim of changing the ethnic makeup of Kosovo and thus establishing the full control of Serbia's authorities over the province."
To facilitate these expulsions and displacements, armed units of the FRY and Serbia deliberately created an atmosphere of fear and oppression through the use of force, threats of force and acts of violence. Attacks on civilians followed a pre-determined pattern that involved the shelling of towns and villages, destruction of residential and religious buildings, the killing of women, children and men not directly involved in hostilities and sexually assaulting Kosovo Albanian women. Those actions were carried out across Kosovo and the same intentional means and methods were used throughout the province.
The expulsion of Kosovo Albanian civilians was carried out with the aim of changing the ethnic makeup of Kosovo and thus establishing the full control of Serbia's authorities over the province."
Source: ICTY: The Kosovo Case, 1998-1999, SENSE Transitional Justice Center - a full documentation of how the crimes in Kosovo were investigated, reconstructed and prosecuted.
Denial instead of accountability
Serbia has never accepted responsibility for the crimes committed by Serbian forces. It continues to deny them, and in doing so obstructs justice and reconciliation in the region.
Mass graves holding the bodies of Kosovo Albanians, concealed to cover up the killings, have been found across Serbia: 744 bodies in Batajnica on the outskirts of Belgrade, and more in eastern Serbia (Petrovo Selo) and western Serbia (Perućac) - 941 bodies at four sites in all.
These are the facts a Serbian minister spoke of so lightly in 2026, saying she would have carried out the very policy that produced them. She is still in office.
Mass graves holding the bodies of Kosovo Albanians, concealed to cover up the killings, have been found across Serbia: 744 bodies in Batajnica on the outskirts of Belgrade, and more in eastern Serbia (Petrovo Selo) and western Serbia (Perućac) - 941 bodies at four sites in all.
These are the facts a Serbian minister spoke of so lightly in 2026, saying she would have carried out the very policy that produced them. She is still in office.
