March 28. 2024. 4:32

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EU tells Kosovo, Serbia leaders to calm tensions, calls urgent meeting


The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell urged the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia on Tuesday (30 May) to immediately de-escalate tensions after what he called “absolutely unacceptable” clashes in northern Kosovo in recent days.

Borrell said he had spoken over the phone to both Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Alexander Vučić to tell them to avoid any “further unilateral action”.

“I asked both parties to urgently take measures to de-escalate tensions immediately and unconditionally,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels.

Serbs, who account for about 6% of Kosovo’s population, boycotted last month’s elections in northern towns, where they are in a majority, allowing ethnic Albanians to take control of local councils despite a minuscule turnout of under 3.5% of voters.

Many Serbs in the north are demanding the withdrawal of Kosovo police forces and of the ethnic Albanian mayors, whom they do not consider their representatives.

The violence of the recent days was sparked by the disputed municipal elections and after Serb protesters tried to force their way into the Zvecan town hall on Monday (29 May) but were repelled as Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

NATO’s peacekeeping force (KFOR) tried to separate protesters from the police, but later started to disperse the crowd using shields and batons. Ethnic Serb protesters responded by hurling rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at soldiers, leaving around 30 of them injured.

Speaking in Brussels, Borrell said Kosovo’s authorities needed to suspend police operations focused on municipal buildings in north Kosovo while ethnic Serb protesters should stand down.

The EU, he warned, was “discussing possible measures to be taken if the parties continue to resist proposed steps towards de-escalation”.

The escalation between Belgrade and its former province, which declared independence in 2008, comes three months after the two reached an agreement on implementing an EU-backed deal to normalise ties.

“The EU expects the Parties to act responsibly and engage immediately in the EU-facilitated Dialogue to find a sustainable solution to the situation in the north of Kosovo that guarantees safety and security for all citizens and paves the way for the implementation of the new Agreement on Path to Normalisation,” Borrell said in a separately published statement.

“For that, I am working on organising an urgent High-Level Dialogue Meeting supported by EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajčák,” he added, without specifying a date for the potential meeting.

The EU side also said it had dispatched the EU diplomatic arm’s (EEAS) Deputy Secretary-General, Charles Fries, to Kosovo where he and the EU’s Rule of Law mission in Kosovo will report back to Borrell “personally on the situation on the ground”.

According to Borrell, EU member states “are being informed about the developments and discussing possible measures to be taken if the Parties continue to resist proposed steps towards de-escalation”.

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