Presidency of Kosovo: Derek Chollet's visit to the Balkans is postponed

2023-07-30 14:04:34, Kosova & Bota CNA

Presidency of Kosovo: Derek Chollet's visit to the Balkans is postponed

Senior Advisor to the US Department of State, Derek Chollet

The senior adviser of the American State Department, Derek Chollet, has postponed the visit with an American delegation to the Balkans, the Presidency of Kosovo said.

In an answer to Radio Free Europe, the media adviser of the Presidency, Bekim Kupina, said that the planned visit for July 30 with state leaders of Kosovo was postponed for objective reasons.

"There is no cancellation of the visit, but we have been informed that there is a postponement of the date for the entire Balkan tour (that is, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia) for objective reasons of one of the members of the delegation", said Kupina.

Chollet visited Kosovo, and several Balkan countries, in January of this year.

He said then that the United States will be waiting for a proposal from the Government of Kosovo for the formation of the Association of municipalities with a Serbian majority.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached agreement on the Association in 2013 and then in 2015 on the principles for its establishment.

In 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo found that the agreement is not in full harmony with the Constitution.

Serbia demands that Kosovo implement the agreements reached, but the Government of Kosovo has declared against a mono-ethnic association.

Meanwhile, tensions in Kosovo have increased, after the entry of new Albanian mayors into the municipal buildings in the north of Kosovo - Zveçan, Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok - inhabited by a majority of Serbs.

The Serbian community and Lista Serbe, the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo, have boycotted the April elections, but they do not accept the new presidents either.

Tensions have also culminated in violence between protesters and members of the NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR.

The international community has asked Kosovo and Serbia to reduce tensions and sit down at the negotiating table.

On July 10, Kosovo reached an agreement with the EU to reduce tensions, and it included the holding of new elections in the north.

However, recently, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has said that there can be no elections without a full extension of the situation in the north.

"We will make sure that this new experience that we will have with the termination of the mandate of these presidents in the north, has legal and procedural support and guarantees. So, we must make sure that such a process is so safe that it is unassailable in the legal and juridical sense", said Kurti, during a media conference.

The Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, has said that early elections can be held if 20 percent of voters in a municipality sign a petition for the removal of the mayor of that municipality.

This petition, according to Krasniqi, would then be sent to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), which would verify it and then launch a referendum on whether the president should be dismissed./ REL