• Questions with answers The keys to the return of violence to Kosovo

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has declared that he will not give in to the "fascist pressures and blackmail" promoted by Belgrade in his country by preventing the work of Albanian mayors elected in the areas of Serb majority and that he is not afraid of the sanctions announced by the United States if it does not contribute to de-escalate the situation.

"I can imagine early municipal elections, in two years, but until then, elected mayors must be able to do their job and have access to the headquarters of city councils and belonging to the state," Kurti told the global security conference in Bratislava (Globsec). Allowing mayors to govern their cities from another building as a temporary measure or to reduce violence "would be to create a parallel structure, to take a step towards illegality," he argued. As an alternative, he proposed that the elected Albanian mayors elect Serbian deputy mayors.

Before an audience that included several leaders of the Western Balkans and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Kurti attacked Serbia and for what, in his opinion, is the largest political party in that country, the Orthodox Church.

"The idea of ethnic cleansing spreads in churches and fascism makes them its own, but Kosovo will resist because our vocation is democratic and multi-ethnic," said the prime minister to denounce the appearance in municipalities with a Serb majority of graffiti with the zetas used by Russian aggressors in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron, also invited to the Forum, blamed the Kosovar government for the current situation of tension in the north of the country, where clashes between Serb protesters and NATO forces left 80 wounded on Monday, 30 of them soldiers.

"There is clearly a responsibility of the Kosovar authorities in the current situation and a failure to respect an agreement that is important and was closed several weeks ago," he said in Bratislava, after a meeting with Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova.

Macron referred to a new plan promoted by France and Germany, under the mediation of the European Union, to normalize relations between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo, which in 2008 unilaterally declared its independence, which Belgrade still does not recognize.

Macron said Pristina made a mistake by organizing elections last April in four municipalities where Serbs are in the majority, even though that community boycotted the process.

These elections, in which only 3% of the census participated, elected ethnic Albanian mayors whose authority is rejected by the Serbs, a situation that has led to escalation of tension and violent protests.

Macron said that Kosovo's attitude to these elections has been "a mistake."

Kurti denied that one of the factors that sparked the violence was the lack of coordination with NATO forces still deployed in the country since the end of the war in the former Yugoslavia. "There is dialogue with NATO and the EU, I do not say that on a daily basis and I do not say that we always agree, but of course there are meetings," said the prime minister in response to the accusations of the United States, which will impose sanctions on Kosovo until Pristina takes measures to de-escalate the tense situation that led to violent riots in the north of the country. of Serb majority.

The US ambassador in Pristina, Jeffrey Hovenie, announced at a press conference on Tuesday that the first sanction is the cancellation of Kosovo's participation in the US-led Defender Europe 2023 military exercise. In addition, Washington "will cease all efforts to help Kosovo obtain recognition from states that have not done so and in the process of integration into international organizations." Among those States is Spain.

Protests

On Monday, Kosovo Serbs protested in front of the municipal buildings in Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic, Serb-dominated municipalities in northern Kosovo, against newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors, who took office on Friday guarded by Kosovar police. Clashes erupted when Zvecan demonstrators attacked KFOR soldiers with tear gas, explosives, stones and police batons. Hovenier claimed that "the [Kosovo police] operation that took place on Friday to gain access to municipal buildings by force was not coordinated with the United States."

"The crisis that has been created has been totally unnecessary, mayors have had the opportunity to work from other administrative buildings located in these municipalities, so it was not necessary to insist on entering these buildings," said the US ambassador, who has called on Kurti to urgently withdraw the Kosovar police from three disputed municipal buildings of Zubin Potok, Leposavic and Zvecan.

The Kosovar prime minister reiterated in Bratislava that Kosovar special units will remain in the buildings and that U.S. sanctions worry him but "don't scare me."

In response to the recent unrest and the injury of 30 members of the NATO Force in Kosovo, NATO has ordered the deployment of the Operational Reserve Forces (ORF) to the Western Balkans and that an additional multinational battalion of standby forces "will be ready to reinforce KFOR within seven days "if necessary".

Serbian President Alexandar Vucic met on Tuesday with representatives of the so-called Quint countries (the United States, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) and with Russian Ambassador Alexandar Bocan-Harchenko. Vucic said he wanted to ensure the "safety" of Serbs in northern Kosovo. "There is a small condition for it, why I cannot believe that the people of Quint, the most powerful Western countries, cannot fulfill it, and that is the withdrawal of Kosovar police forces from northern Kosovo and the second is the dismissal of fake mayors who do not represent anyone," he said.

Against this backdrop of tensions in the Western Balkans, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in Bratislava a new growth plan for the Western Balkans based on four pillars: bringing the Western Balkans closer to the EU single market, deepening regional economic integration, accelerating fundamental reforms and increasing pre-accession funds.

Von der Leyen said that "to some extent, this is a new approach for the European Union: We are not just asking our partners to take new steps towards us. We also take a big step towards them. Our common goal is to accelerate your path towards the EU. And to do this, we bring our Union closer to the Western Balkans."

  • United States
  • NATO
  • Ursula von der Leyen
  • European Commission
  • United Kingdom
  • Russia
  • Italy
  • Germany
  • France
  • European Union
  • Europe
  • Ukraine
  • Serbia

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