Serbian president resigns from the leadership of the ruling party. | News

Amid tensions with the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic submitted his resignation on Saturday as leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and lashed out at the Pristina government for its harassment of the minority Serb population. ..

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"He proposed the candidacy of (Defense Minister) Milos Vucevic for this position," Vicic announced as he submitted his resignation during a party meeting in the city of Kragujevac broadcast online by the Tanjug network.

"I will never leave this party, I just believe that a different approach is necessary, to gather the forces that want to fight for the victory of a successful Serbia," Vucic told the SNS congress in the central Serbian city of Kragujevac. .

His replacement at the head of the party has been chosen the current Minister of Defense and Vice President of the Government, Milos Vucevic, a 48-year-old jurist and former mayor of Novi Sad -the second largest Serbian city-, who has been a member of the SNS since his foundation, in 2008.

Tensions rise between Serbia and Kosovo

Previously, Vicic accused Pristina of exercising "terror" against the Kosovo Serb minority and criticized the reaction of Western countries condemning the violence used by the Kosovar authorities.

"The situation in Kosovo is difficult, the Albanian regime in Pristina is carrying out real terror against our people and some are being naive. I mean the West," Vucic said in a speech at the SNS congress being held in the Kragujevac city.

The Serbian president was referring to the new tensions created by the riots that broke out in three municipalities in northern Kosovo this Friday, when Serb protesters tried to prevent the Kosovar Albanian mayors elected in April from accessing the town halls.

The protests against the Kosovar mayors elected in elections boycotted by the majority Serb population in the area increased tensions in the area.

In a joint statement, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States condemned the use of violence by the Kosovar authorities to force the entry of the mayors, blocked by the Kosovar Serb protesters, who do not recognize the authority of the mayors .

Kosovo, populated mostly by Albanians, proclaimed unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008, being recognized by the United States, Canada and most of the member countries of the European Union, but not by Serbia itself, Russia, China, Spain, Greece, Iran and other nations.