On Thursday 15 June, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, announced that a crisis meeting would be organised next week in Brussels with Serbian and Kosovar representatives to try to put an end to the violence in the north of Kosovo.
This meeting should provide an opportunity to return to the de-escalation elements defined by the EU and the United States to contain tensions in this region of the country. The High Representative reiterated these points on Wednesday 14 June in a document addressed to the Kosovar Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, after the latter had submitted to the EU, two days earlier, a proposed five-point plan to enable a return to calm (see EUROPE 13201/26).
Mr Borrell’s reply to Mr Kurti insisted that the Albanian mayors elected in the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country - where the violence began on 26 May (see EUROPE 13190/20) - should “temporarily work elsewhere than in municipal buildings”.
For the moment, two of the four elected representatives have responded to this request, in Zubin Potok and Zvecan. “We hope that the mayors of Leposavic and North Mitrovica will follow suit shortly”, added Mr Borrell. These two elected representatives are members of the same political party as Mr Kurti.
The High Representative also called for the immediate suspension of police operations near municipal buildings in the north of Kosovo. For its part, Serbia should commit to supporting the withdrawal of troublemakers from the area.
The cessation of Kosovar police operations was a sine qua non condition for acceding to Mr Kurti’s request, which in the document submitted to the EU on 12 June called for the national police and the NATO-led KFOR to conduct joint security assessments every 15 days.
Mr Borrell also called for early elections to be held “as soon as possible” in the four municipalities affected by the violence, and for the Serbs living in the region to take part. “We have made this request clear to the Serbian President, Mr Vučić”, said Mr Borrell.
A high-level meeting between the Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, and the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, could take place once these conditions had been met, added Mr Borrell.
“We cannot make progress towards normalising relations as long as we are dealing with crisis management. (...) If you are prepared to take the necessary steps, a meeting can be organised quickly”, the document stated.
Finally, the letter given to Mr Kurti warned that if no measures were taken, Kosovo could be exposed to sanctions, particularly with regard to funds from the EU or its EU accession process. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)