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O'Brien: Kurt stop the uncoordinated actions that negatively affect our partnership

2024-08-31 10:34:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

O'Brien: Kurt stop the uncoordinated actions that negatively affect our

James O'Brien

The US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O'Brien, has called on the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, to stop, as he said, "uncoordinated actions that negatively affect our partnership".

This reaction of the senior American official comes after on August 30, Kosovo institutions announced that they have closed five parallel Serbian institutions in the north of the country. According to the Government of Kosovo, these institutions functioned under the leadership of Serbia.

Regarding this action, the American Embassy in Kosovo reacted strongly, saying that the continuous uncoordinated actions of Kosovo reflect the deterioration of the partnership between Washington and Pristina.

"Issues related to the structures supported by Serbia in Kosovo should be addressed through dialogue facilitated by the EU. This action was not coordinated with any element of the international community," the American Embassy said on August 30.

O'Brien said that the statement of the US Embassy in Kosovo made it clear that the US is concerned "by the ongoing uncoordinated and provocative actions of the Government of Kosovo".

"We call on Prime Minister Kurti and his Government to consult and coordinate with international partners and stop actions that negatively affect our partnership," O'Brien wrote on the X social network.

Regarding the action of the Kosovo authorities in the north, the ambassadors of Germany, the United Kingdom and France have also reacted.

The German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, said that they join the American Embassy in expressing "concern and disappointment with the uncoordinated actions".

"This has to change. We want to remove the measures and move forward in terms of regional and European integration of Kosovo", he wrote in X.

The French ambassador in Kosovo, Oliver Guerot, distributing the statement of the American Embassy in X, said that actions that have a harmful impact on members of a community, "in this case the Serbian community, are not welcome. Unilateral actions do not bring lasting solutions".

Actions affecting Kosovo Serbs, according to the British ambassador to Kosovo, Johanthan Hargreaves, require careful consultation with Kosovo's friends and "security partners, in the context of a wider dialogue".

Hargreaves said that the actions in the north of Kosovo "were carried out without this consultation and risk increasing tensions and affecting the most vulnerable".

The action in the north of Kosovo was undertaken at a time when the Government in Kosovo is already facing criticism from the international community for its "unilateral and uncoordinated" actions, after closing several branches of the Kosovo Post in July. The Kosovar executive is also aiming to open the main bridge over the Ibër River for vehicle traffic.

During the August 30 action, the Minister of Local Government Administration of Kosovo, Elbert Krasniqi, said that the District of Mitrovica of Kosovo, the parallel Municipality of Mitrovica, the parallel Municipality of Zveçan, the parallel Municipality of Zubin Potok and the parallel Municipality of Leposaviq have been closed.

Earlier this year, the Kosovar authorities closed seven other parallel Serbian municipalities in other parts of the country, such as Prizren, Pejë, Suharekë, Istog, Klinë, Rahovec and Dragash.

The government of Kosovo has repeatedly said that it is trying to establish law and order, especially in the north of Kosovo inhabited by a majority of Serbs, by extinguishing the parallel Serbian institutions.

The four Serb-majority municipalities in the north, North Mitrovica, Zveçan, Leposaviq and Zubin Potok, have been led by Albanian mayors since May last year, when they took office in local elections that were boycotted by the Serb-majority population.

In Kosovo, there are municipalities, public companies and enterprises, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and public universities that are directly financed by the Government of Serbia, and which are located in the cities and towns where the Serbian community lives.

According to the laws in Kosovo, these institutions are illegal.

In 2013, Kosovo and Serbia, in the dialogue for the normalization of relations in Brussels, reached an agreement on the extinction of parallel institutions, but this agreement has not yet been fully implemented.

Serbia, in the budget for 2024, has increased funding for the work of parallel institutions in Kosovo, improving the lives of citizens, information, but also for support for clergy and monks in Kosovo./REL