SKOPJE, May 24 (BV)— North Macedonia’s governing Albanian coalition VLEN and opposition party Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) traded accusations on Saturday over alleged Serbian influence networks following a pro-Serbian rally in the city of Kumanovo.
The dispute erupted after several hundred participants gathered in support of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, waving Serbian flags and chanting nationalist slogans including “Kosovo is ours,” according to local media reports.
VLEN accused DUI and former foreign minister Bujar Osmani of maintaining ties with individuals linked to the organization of the rally, including Vladimir Stajić, identified by the coalition as Serbia’s honorary consul in North Macedonia.
The coalition said DUI was “the last party that can speak about Serbian influence,” accusing it of previously supporting the Open Balkan initiative, a regional project strongly backed by Vučić.
VLEN argued that the initiative promoted Serbian regional dominance under the guise of economic cooperation and weakened Kosovo’s regional position.
Osmani rejected the accusations and instead called for an investigation into claims involving Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Stoilković, who is widely known for his pro-Serbian political positions.
“If these allegations prove true, it would mean that internal processes of a NATO government may have been exposed to a non-NATO state with close relations to Russia,” Osmani said.
He described the matter as an issue of national security and institutional integrity within the NATO alliance.
Stoilković has publicly supported the concept of the “Serbian World,” a nationalist political idea promoted by Serbian political circles advocating closer political and cultural integration of Serbs across the Balkans.
The opposition Alliance for Albanians also condemned the Kumanovo rally, saying nationalist slogans and symbols risked inflaming ethnic tensions in a city with a history of interethnic conflict.
The party criticized local authorities for allowing what it described as provocative nationalist messaging and warned that silence toward such events could encourage future incidents.
Local media reported that the rally coincided with anti-government demonstrations in Serbia against Vučić’s administration, adding that Serbian rail traffic had been suspended before the protests in Belgrade.
North Macedonia joined NATO in 2020 and has positioned itself as a pro-Western state seeking full European Union membership, while balancing sensitive regional relations involving Serbia, Kosovo and neighboring Bulgaria.