The process leading up to the decision to replace - or not - the Albanian mayors in the Serb-majority municipalities of northern Kosovo, where they were elected on 23 April following elections boycotted by the Serb community (see EUROPE 13168/7), is due to be completed on 1 September.
Under the process initiated by Pristina, citizens will have the opportunity to collect signatures calling for the dismissal of mayors currently in office. If the threshold of 50% and one vote is reached, the application will then be forwarded to the Ministry of Local Authorities, before publication in the Official Journal. New elections could then be organised.
“As far as the elections in the north are concerned, this is a process that will be determined in the next few days”, commented the Minister for Local Government, Elbert Krasniqi.
New elections were called for by a number of Member States and by the European Commission on 25 July. A number of measures were taken against Pristina, including the suspension of Kosovo’s participation in high-level meetings, the suspension of bilateral visits and the temporary suspension of the bodies set up under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (see EUROPE 13209/5).
Holding new elections had been set as a priority by the EU27 to achieve de-escalation (see EUROPE 13213/4) in the region, where violence broke out on 26 May when Albanian mayors took office in four municipalities in Serb-majority northern Kosovo. The violence continued for several weeks (see EUROPE 13190/20). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)