Friday, March 29

Race against the clock between the US and the EU to avoid a new outbreak of violence in Kosovo


The special envoys for the Balkans of the European Union (EU) and the United States try to find a last-minute solution to placate the Kosovo Serb minority that it refuses to accept the requirement to use Kosovar license plates and identity documents and that it enters into force on September 1 next. Serb representatives have threatened to leave the Kosovo institutions where they are represented if they are forced to change their personal and vehicle documentation. The head of the NATO military mission (KFOR) in charge of peacekeeping in Kosovo has tried to reassure the international community by saying that the situation “does not present a risk of a new civil war, but of strong tensions”, if a solution is not found before the first of the month, although the prospect of a outbreak of the conflict remains a real possibility that would serve Russia’s interests in this case to destabilize Western Europe.

The rrepresentatives of the Serbs they have already warned that «in the event that there is no compromise solution, we, together with all our compatriots, will begin the process of leaving all the institutions of Kosovo, at all levels. We will leave the state and local institutions, then the courts and the Prosecutor’s Office, as well as the Police.” This will dissolve the Brussels process, which provided for the first set of rules for interaction between Serbia, which does not recognize the independence of its former province, and the Kosovar authorities, backed by the United States and almost all EU countries. .

fear of conflict

These measures on license plates and personal documentation should have been put in place last month, but the threat of triggering a conflict, given that the Serbs they blocked the roads, caused it to be postponed for a month. Kosovar leaders are now appealing to Serb citizens living on their territory to “accept to abide by the law.” “I hope that past images of barricades and criminal gangs will not be repeated on September 1 and that if someone breaks the law they will be brought to justice,” Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said.

The EU representative, Miroslav Lajcak, denied having requested a new postponement in the meeting he had held with Kurti. “There is a lot of speculation, I don’t know anything about it,” Lajcak told reporters after another meeting with Serbs from the Mitrovica area, which he called “very important,” although it is understood that any firm decision on the matter has to be made. be accepted by the Serbian Government in Belgrade. The fact that the Special delivery of the EU insist that it has not asked for a new postponement – ​​which would be the first starting point to avoid confrontation – could be interpreted as an implicit recognition that the Kosovars have rejected this proposal.

Lajcak and the US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, are constantly traveling between Pristina and Belgrade in an attempt to prevent a further rift between the two entities. Yesterday there was talk of the possibility of announcing some new event in the negotiation process from the Serbian capital, but at the last minute, when it was announced that the meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had ended, it had not taken place.

The ambassador of USA in Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, which confirms the special interest of the Americans in maintaining stability in the Balkans and, above all, closing the door at all costs so that the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, can use his special relations with Serbia to justify the opening of a new source of instability for NATO, now that all the objectives point to the invasion of Ukraine.

international mediation

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he was preparing a mediation between President Vucic and the Kosovar Prime Minister, who had already met unsuccessfully in Brussels last week. There has also been talk of the possible direct intervention of the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, with the idea of ​​forcing a compromise.

The United States and the EU are working very hard to resolve this issue. For Washington, which has one of its largest military bases in the world in Kosovo, the aim is to close this issue with a stable solution that allows it to reduce its military involvement. The EU shares the first part of this approach except that, in the event that Serbia and Kosovo normalize their relations, it would mean that it would have to manage the aspirations of the two countries to enter the community club. As long as none of these steps take place, the Balkans continue to be a space where distant powers such as Russia, Turkey, China or even Iran try to occupy the space and defend their own interests in the area.


www.abc.es

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