Stoltenberg meets with Vucic on Wednesday

2023-07-18 18:22:13, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, announced on Tuesday that he will meet with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, on July 19 in Brussels.

On July 12, Vucic announced that he sent an official letter to NATO with a request to meet the head of this institution.

The topic of the talks is believed to be the situation in Kosovo.

Stoltenberg and Vucic will meet on the same day when talks are expected to take place in Brussels between the chief negotiators of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Besnik Bislim and Petar Petkovic.

On July 11, the European Union has confirmed that it has agreed with Kosovo to take some steps to reduce tensions in the north.

According to the agreement - reached between Lajçak and Bislim on July 10 in Bratislava - Kosovo has agreed to reduce the police presence in and around municipal buildings in Zveçan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok, and that Kosovo will support the holding of new elections in the four municipalities. northern, as part of actions to escalate the situation.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on Tuesday that Kosovo has begun to open the way for early elections in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, within the framework of the agreement reached with the European Union for the reduction of tensions.

"Since last week, we have reduced the presence of the Kosovo Police by 25 percent in the three municipal buildings in the north. Now we have started to pave the way for early elections. Kosovo is implementing the agreement reached with the EU, in Bratislava, for the extension of the situation".

Tensions in the north of Kosovo have been high for several weeks, especially in June.

The situation has worsened since the local Serbs in the municipalities in the north of Kosovo - Zveçan, Leposavi? and Zubin Potok - have opposed the entry of the new Albanian mayors, with the assistance of the Kosovo Police, into the municipal buildings.

The leaders won the mandates in the elections held in April this year, which were boycotted by the Serbs.

Due to not listening to the advice of the international factor to end the crisis, Kosovo has faced punitive measures from the EU.

The EU's punitive measures against Kosovo include: the temporary suspension of the work of the bodies created on the basis of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the non-invitation of Kosovo to high-level meetings and the suspension of bilateral visits, except for those focused on addressing the crisis in the north of Kosovo within the framework of the dialogue facilitated by the EU.

Kosovo and Serbia are part of the dialogue mediated by the EU, for the normalization of relations, since 2011.

The parties have signed many agreements, but not all of them have been implemented./ REL