Kosovo declares Serbian minister persona non grata over ethnic cleansing remarks

Kosovo’s Acting Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla announced on Tuesday that Serbia’s Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Snežana Paunović, has been declared persona non grata. The decision imposes a permanent ban on her entry or transit through Kosovo territory.

The move came one day after Paunović made controversial statements during a prime-time TV interview on a Belgrade channel. She said: “If I were Slobodan Milošević, I would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo in 1998,” adding that it was “the harshest qualification I have ever said.” She later clarified that she referred to expelling Albanians who rejected Yugoslav citizenship back to Albania, not physical extermination.

🇽🇰 Kosovo declares Serbian Minister Paunovic persona non grata, permanently barring her from entering or transiting through the country. https://t.co/JyffOag1Iu pic.twitter.com/zgqyXlSE3k
— Admirim (@admirim) July 14, 2026

International and domestic reactions

European Union officials quickly condemned the rhetoric. Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, publicly condemned Paunović’s statement. In comments reported on Tuesday, she said she was “horrified” by the Serbian minister’s remark.

An EU spokesperson stated that such comments “have no place in Europe” and contradict Serbia’s commitments to reconciliation and the normalization process with Kosovo.

The declaration by minister Sveçla received widespread support within Kosovo. Many viewed it as a necessary and firm response to glorification of war crimes from the 1998-1999 Kosovo War.

Albanian officials and public figures strongly condemned Snežana Paunović’s remarks, though Prime Minister Edi Rama has not issued a public statement as of July 15, 2026. Some commentators have noted his silence as notable.

Reactions in Serbia were mixed. Opposition parties demanded Paunović’s dismissal, labeling her statement as hate speech. Serbian government circles largely defended her or remained silent, framing the Kosovo decision as politically motivated escalation.

Ivica Dačić, leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister of the Interior, has not merely failed to criticise his party colleague and government minister, Snežana Paunović, for advocating the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. He has… https://t.co/sTclEtm53m
— Prof. Orhan Dragaš, PhD (@ODragas) July 14, 2026

On social media and in Balkan outlets, the story dominated discussions. Kosovo-based accounts and users celebrated the ban as accountability, while some Serbian voices criticized it as overreach. International media, including Reuters, Anadolu Agency, and others, covered the story prominently, highlighting the fragile state of Serbia-Kosovo relations.

The incident underscores deep historical wounds from the late 1990s conflict – during which Serbian ethnic cleansing against Kosovo Albanians sparked a NATO bombing campaign against Serbia – and ongoing challenges in regional reconciliation.

Caption: People walk in the main square in front of a picture of the first Kosovo’s President, Ibrahim Rugova hanging on a building in Pristina, Kosovo, 5 June 2026. EPA/GEORGI LICOVSKI