Prishtina claims that Belgrade is responsible for the situation in the north of Kosovo

2024-09-14 21:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Prishtina claims that Belgrade is responsible for the situation in the north of

The Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, on Saturday called on the international community to condemn with clear language and firm positions what she called the aggressive and hostile behavior and language of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, towards Kosovo.

On Friday, the Serbian president requested the restoration of the previous situation in the north of Kosovo inhabited by a majority of Serbs, which in Kosovo is seen as a request for the undoing of many actions instigated by Belgrade itself.

"What we believe is necessary, for any serious progress in the dialogue, is to hold free and democratic local elections in the north of Kosovo, with the participation of the OSCE mission and under the control of the European Union. Second, the implementation of article 9 of the first Brussels Agreement, which means the formation of the regional police directorate in the north composed of members of the Serbian community", said President Vucic, demanding, among other things, the return of Serbian judges and prosecutors to their workplaces .

Serb policemen, judges and prosecutors in northern Kosovo resigned in November 2022 in protest at the dismissal of a police officer by authorities in Pristina after he refused to comply with orders to replace Serbian car number plates with of Kosovo.

The Serbian president said that the "Serbian institutions" in Kosovo "will not be abolished or closed" and near the border with Kosovo, offices will be opened where Serbs from the north of Kosovo will have access to social protection services and that they will offer vital state and administrative services for citizens. He also announced the establishment of a special prosecutor's office "that will pursue all those who persecute Serbs in Kosovo, including Serbs who work for the Albanian service" and that the Serbian parliament will declare all acts illegal and invalid that have been approved by Prishtina contrary to the Brussels agreements. In a post on the Facebook network, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, said that the Serbian president showed that he has no intention of stopping the instrumentalization of Kosovo Serbs and their interests, using them for daily politics and financial benefits, while he emphasized that he had ordered their removal from their jobs and the boycott of local elections.

"Now, being fully aware that the persons, who by his order have been involved in criminal acts, crimes and violent acts in Kosovo, can no longer play any role in the public and institutional life of Kosovo, requests the return to the state of previous, without even showing at least the reasons for leaving and boycotting the institutions", Minister Gërvalla wrote, among other things.

The chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, wrote on Saturday that for the difficult situation in the north of Kosovo, the main responsibility is the Serbian president, who has sabotaged every initiative to establish normality and the integration of Serbs in the institutions of Kosovo.

His requests, "are just a continuation of his war against Kosovo", wrote Mr. Haradinaj, while underlining that the ground for these anti-Kosovo actions of Serbia, supported by some international circles, has been created by the short-sighted policy of the government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti. She has made Serbia's fascist policy towards Kosovo not seem so bad.

Belgrade's demands followed actions by the Kosovo government to close Serbian-backed parallel institutions in the north in late August. The closure prompted criticism from the United States and the European Union, over concerns that tensions in Kosovo could lead to broader instability in the Balkans.

Authorities in Serbia gathered European Union ambassadors on Saturday at the start of what they called the start of a "global diplomatic campaign" to meet demands that the Serbian president said he would write to US President Joe Biden, the Russian Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the European Union, although he accused the West of siding with Kosovo, European Union officials are asking Serbia and Kosovo to normalize their relations as a condition for progress towards membership in the bloc.

Serbia affirms its intention to integrate into the European Union but maintains close ties with Russia and China, which support its claim to Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 with the support of the West./ Voa